Marzieh Khanizadeh Abyaneh took third place by winning the bronze plaque of the competition for her cartoon depicting a military commander boasting of his medals and an old woman with a despairing look at the pictures of her children killed in a war.

Alireza Pakdel also was given a cash prize worth 500 euros by the mayor of the Polish city of Bielsko-Biala, while Hossein Soluki received the same prize from the mayor of the Italian city of Carrara.

Iranian cartoonist Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai was the president of the jury, but due to the pandemic, he joined the jury virtually. However, he is scheduled to attend an exhibition of the competition, which will be organized in October.

The grand prize of the contest was awarded to “Messenger of Peace” by Božo Stefanovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This cartoon shows soldiers at a checkpoint body-searching nude, famine-stricken people.

Serbian cartoonist Nikola Kostandinovic finished first and Thai artist Prawit Mongkolnowrut was selected as the runner-up.

Mayors of four other cities also award cartoons at the Kragujevac Salon of Antiwar Cartoon every year.

Serbian cartoonist Muhamed Djerlek received the award from the city of Bydgoszcz in Poland, while Hikmet Cil from Turkey won the award from the city of Ingolstadt in Germany.

The mayor of the French city of Suresnes honored Sergei Semendyaev from Ukraine, and the award from the Romanian city of Pitesti went to Ramiro Zardoyas from Cuba.

The jury also awarded Zoran Petrovic from Germany, Cemil Safiturk from Turkey, Vladimir Semerenko from Russia and Goran Celicanin from Serbia with honorable mentions.

The antiwar cartoon contest is organized annually in memory of hundreds of Kragujevac civilians executed by the Nazi occupier in 1941.

The organizers also intend to promote peace by bringing together hundreds of cartoonists from all over the world.

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As one of the few Iranian artists who have adopted this style, she showcased her latest paintings at Tehran’s Phi Café in an exhibition, which wrapped up on Sunday.

“Due to the unsteady place this style of painting has in the country and consequently, the lack of public access to the artworks created in this style, foreign tourists, collectors and lovers of this style are the target audience for Iranian teahouse paintings,” she said in a statement published on Sunday.

Eshqi said that teahouse painters’ unidimensional views have caused a disregard of this style and added, “Teahouse paintings have a potential to be combined with other styles, if artists blend teahouse painting and other styles we would see some genuinely new artworks, and that would be a highly positive occurrence.”

“Teahouses have been places for people’s daily gatherings, and teahouse paintings have supported their cultural needs in different circumstances, especially in mourning ceremonies and religious events,” she noted and added, “Teahouse painting is the art of the common people, which was formed with contributions from Iran’s genuine religious art and culture.”

The exhibition entitled “Ashura Teahouse Paintings” was organized in collaboration with the Iranian Research Institute of Philosophy.

“For years, religious beliefs were promulgated by eulogists, naqqals [traditional storytellers] and Muslim clerics at hosseiniehs, tekyehs [places for seasonal Islamic ceremonies] and teahouses,” the institute said.

“Each of these people used to share their beliefs artfully and filled with emotion with the people who eagerly came together in these places,” it added.

“Also in these places were teahouse painters who listened to the stories, reflected on them and then portrayed the stories on canvases,” the institute explained.

“Teahouse painting has recently been restored based on legacies from the past by a number of young artists, one of them is Narges Eshqi,” it noted.

The teahouse has had various functions in different eras during its 400-year history in Iran. Teahouses used to be places where people gathered to spend their leisure time listening to a naqqal, an Iranian traditional storyteller, narrating stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. People talked and exchanged views, and along with lutis, wise and generous people, who helped the poor.

Teahouse painters emerged in such an atmosphere. They listened to the discussions and tales, using them as subjects for the paintings they drew on the walls, tiles, stones and canvases. Sometimes, teahouse owners commissioned painters to draw the stories.

With their own unique perspective not used in other styles, teahouse painters drew motifs entirely based on their imagination. The themes of such paintings are epics, traditions and religion.

Stories about the uprising of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions against the oppressive Umayyad dynasty in 680 CE are more highly regarded by the teahouse painters.

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The artwork entitled “Girls of the Sayed Al-Shuhada School” was unveiled on Sunday at the Seyyed al-Shohada Girls’ School in Golshahr, a town near the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad with a population of Afghan refugees.

Qadirian, Mohammad-Mehdi Dadman, the director of the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, a number of teachers and the schoolmaster attended the unveiling ceremony of the artwork.

“Master Qadirian has dedicated his life to portraying his perception of the teachings of Islam, and deep Islamic thoughts have been presented in all of his works,” Dadman said in his brief speech at the ceremony.

“What has been portrayed in this artwork is also a great example, and this path has been opened with contributions from him and other artists of the Islamic Revolution,” he added.

“Now, it’s our duty to speak of and think about the artworks created by these artists, discovering their real meanings to present them to the world,” he noted.

In a short speech, Qadirian expressed his sympathy with the victims of the terrorist attack, and said, “I did the painting to calm the mothers of the martyrs.”

“I felt a deep sadness from this disaster, because I have many Afghan friends. Therefore I decided to represent my emotions through this artwork,” added Qadirian who received a nomination for the 2021 Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year.

Explosions on May 8 evening shook the neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi in the Afghan capital of Kabul, home to a large community of Shias from the Hazara ethnic minority, and claimed the lives of over 60 people, including schoolgirls.

Other Iranian artists, including Majid Majidi, expressed their sympathy with the victims of the terrorist attack.

Majidi also criticized the world for not speaking out against the bomb attack.

“I regret having to live in a time when justice is a meaningless word in this age of futility… I wish we had died and not seen the death of justice and humanity, and we would not have witnessed such tragic silence over the sad martyrdom of dozens of oppressed girls from the Afghan Hazara community,” he wrote in a statement published few days after the tragic event.

In addition, pianist Bardia Sadrenoori released a single titled “Afghan Child” in memory of the children killed in the terrorist attack.

He also wrote, “In a world that claims to protect human and children’s rights, the heart of every free human being aches when innocent and pure children with all their childhood aspirations are butchered in the worst possible way as a result of all the political games, inefficiencies, and the trading of death for personal interests.”

Photo: Abdolhamid Qadirian autographs a copy of his painting “Girls of the Sayed Al-Shuhada School” for a student after unveiling the original the Seyyed al-Shohada Girls’ School in Golshahr on July 18, 2021.  

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