WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Sara Nodjoumi delves into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of more than 100 “treasonous” paintings by her father, seminal Iranian modern artist Nickzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi in this real-life fascinating family drama/political thriller.
Nickzad Nodjoumi joined the Islamic Revolution, making paintings and posters criticizing the Shah’s regime. In1980, the painter fled his home country following the vandalization of his solo exhibition, “Report on the Revolution,” and its subsequent shutdown by Islamic radicals at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Decades later, as Iran is once again embroiled in protests following the suppression and killing of Iranian women and activists at the hands of Iran’s “morality police,” the renowned artist and his daughter attempt to track down the missing paintings in hopes of reclaiming them. During the search, Sara, drawing on disarmingly frank conversations with both her father and mother, celebrated artist Nahid Hagigat, and grappling with complex feelings and mysteries tied to her own upbringing, traces a timeline of events to understand the circumstances that led to her homeland’s perpetual state of political turmoil and to her parents’ personal estrangement.
