New Publication Spotlights Performance Art Protest by Iranian Artist

In conjunction with the artist's retrospective exhibition Minoo Emami: Under My Veil, held in the Hartford Art School's Joseloff Gallery from September 21 to December 16, 2023, the public was invited to join the artist in the Silpe Gallery over four weeks, to suture together 22 paintings from Emami's War Collection series into a new large-scale collage entitled Body Quilt. Then, on November 11, Emami set fire to the paintings on the Harry Jack Gray quad, symbolically sacrificing her intellectual and artistic being in a cry to end all war and conflict.

The impetus for this act of protest was to demonstrate solidarity with the unprecedented Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran. Emami is representative of a generation of Iranians who deploy artmaking to cope with the collective trauma of war and state violence. She conceived Body Quilt as a mechanism for communal exchange, storytelling, and healing. In times of global unrest, the new publication Body Quilt: A Fire for Peace aims to document the critical role of art in imagining and building a world where all humans live with dignity and without fear of violence.

The book documents the quilt, the performance, and the burning, as well as the artworks that no longer exist. Essays by Emami, the art historian Dr. Pamela Karimi, and the curator Dr. Carrie Cushman place the project in its ritual, historic, and artistic contexts, alongside reflections by Hartford Art School students on the experience of working alongside Emami. With documentary photographs by Michael Vahrenwald, the publication conveys a feeling for the drama and depth of meaning that continue to define the project. Lastly, inserted into each book is a limited edition print by Emami that portrays a remnant of the burnt quilt alongside the original painting.

The Harrison Libraries at the University of Hartford will hold a book launch on the one-year anniversary of the performance, Monday, November 11, 2024 from 4-5 p.m. Emami will be present for a conversation and book signing. Remnants of the burnt quilt will also be on display.

The exhibition, programming, and book project were funded by a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Joseloff Gallery Programs Fund held by Hartford Art School Endowment, Inc.