#IranResist brings 100 artworks to create awareness for Iran's democratic uprising

Almost two weeks ago we made the decision to support the protests currently happening in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death. We decided to do this by featuring artists and artwork from creators, in order to bring awareness to the protests. For the past 2 weeks, it has been a true privilege to pore over the works of so many brilliant Iranian artists.

By The Numbers

Here are some stats about the coverage we provided on our homepage.

Exclusively Iranian artworks for the last 13 days, new groups have been rotated in on 10 of those days
We've displayed 70 different Iranian artists alongside 100 unique artworks of theirs

It's not hyperbole to say that we could exclusively feature work from Iranian artists exclusively through the rest of the year if we wanted to. There's an absurd amount of quality work being done, and it was a joy to feature even a fraction of it on our front page.

"We are all Mahsa"

We announced our #IranResist homepage coverage by purchasing as many copies of "We are all Mahsa" by @denizizadi as we could. Deniz created the perfect tribute piece to Mahsa with this NFT. It felt like a very elegant way of raising awareness and paying respects in a clear, unambiguous way. Thank you, Deniz 🤝

Lists & Links📃

We've created a playlist to show all the artwork featured on our homepage for the #IranResist event. We encourage you to take it even further with your own lists if you feel compelled to continue highlighting Iranian artists. We'll continue to highlight Iranian works in other sections of the DNS homepage, like our featured lists area, but we really encourage everyone to make their own lists.

DNS Team Favorites

With the amount of incredible artwork that we sifted through over the last couple weeks, it was exceedingly difficult to decide on favorites. Although it was difficult to narrow things down very far, we think this is a healthy mix of styles, mediums, and celebrations of the Iranian people.

"Farimah" is an incredible piece of portrait photography by @hamidr_sh. This photo has an enigmatic type of aesthetic, not unlike the feelings that Mona Lisa evokes. It's not obvious what emotions are being presented in this portrait, but that doesn't make it any less captivating. We recommend perusing the rest of their work as well, especially if you enjoy portrait photography.

False // Me, Moon And Her // Guardian Angel by 8luemeth

"False" by 8luemeth was a very captivating piece to me for a few different reasons. The black and white monochrome color pallet is used extremely well by 8luemeth, and you can see that in other pieces from the collection. The ambiguity of the piece makes for a fun viewing experience too - when I first looked at it, I felt a sense of dread, quiet, and foreboding. But upon closer inspection, those are all just assumptions I've made, and there's nothing here to suggest anything negative at all. It all makes for a very compelling piece with all the right amounts of aesthetics, curiousness, and darkness.

Sohraqeh Church by @SAhmadzadeh25 caught my eye immediately, although trying to articulate the reasons why took considerably more time. The subject, composition, and cloud coverage instill a lot of lonely thoughts and feelings when I look at this piece. The lighting on the hill, however, is a superb contrast to the rest of the image though, which alleviates some of the initial unhappy feelings it evokes. The church was built long before any of us existed, and I expect that it will continue to be there long after we're gone.

Combination D // Drift (animated) // mirage by @parvizmayelzade

I've been a huge fan of Parviz ever since I came across his machine-vs-man collection on Hic et Nunc over a year ago. The range that Parviz displays with his work is remarkable. mirage was the item we chose to feature, but the rest of Parviz's catalog is just as impressive.

The house above the house by @Edrismahmudian is another fantastic piece of photography showcasing Iran's beauty. The juxtaposition of the city with the mountains in the background makes for a great contrast. This image oozes a sense of rich history, and I think Edris did an absolutely wonderful job with this.

mother of nature by @o_waysea is a beautifully haunting piece. I can't quite articulate fully, but I really enjoy the use of the slightly monochrome color palette. The amount of depth on display with the small range of colors used makes great piece of art.

Beet #6 by @MazzAzizi isn't necessearily doing anything that hasn't been done before, but I find it very pleasing. The reds are vibrant, the background provides a good contrast, and the piece of chalk alongside the word "beet" is a nice touch as well. Images like this are also very relatable feeling to me, not unlike a comfort food.

"Self-Portrait #5" by @LapisLazuliArt was an easy include on this list. It's a beautiful combination of watercolor and more detailed linework on the neck area. When I look at this piece, the word I want to use is "somber". It's not sad, happy, or angry, it simply just is - it's like it knows exactly what it wants to be, and that's okay. Check out some of their other works, too.

Page 95-96 // Page 21-22 // Page 40-41 by @elishafaei

Page 95-96 was the piece of work that we featured on the homepage from @elishafaei, but I really enjoyed the rest of this collection too, which is aptly named "The Book". It's got some collage elements to it, and still provides a lot of space for commentary. This was a thought-provoking collection when I first looked at it.

Wrapping everything up

We want to thank everyone who created interesting, beautiful, and compelling artwork. It's not often that we're able to answer the call when a worthy cause comes around, and so the DNS team is simply grateful for the opportunity to try and make a difference. It's easy to showcase beautiful artwork when there's such an abundance of it.

Thank you:

If you have any feedback, join us in our Discord and let's chat.