By Adewale Adekanbi
Bertolt Brecht remarked, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Not A Crime, a campaign begun six months ago, uses the hammer of art to raise awareness to Iranian human rights abuses. On Monday, April 25 the first two of fifteen Harlem wall murals began to that shape at 2288 Frederick Douglass Blvd at 123rd Street and the Faison Firehouse Theater, 6 Hancock Place.
The murals created by both local and global street artists are designed to provoke conversation about human rights violations. The installation precedes Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani attendance at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In true Faison Firehouse Theater style the event was marked with a catered reception.
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Guests got to experience street artists Ricky Lee Gordon transform the bare brick walk into a monument to social change. Not A Crime Founder Maziar Bahari partnered with Street Art Anarchy, who will curate the Harlem mural campaign. Bahari knows the oppressive human right conditions firsthand; the former Newsweek journalist became the subject of Jon Stewart’s film Rosewater after being jailed in Iran.
