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https://theconversation.com/marjane-satrapis-masterpiece-persepolis-transformed-the-worlds-understanding-of-iran-284650>
"Marjane Satrapi, best known for her memoir and film
Persepolis, has died,
aged 56. The death of this much loved Iranian–French artist, graphic novelist,
film-maker and activist has been met with widespread celebration of her life –
and its dedication to resistance, freedom and humanity. French president
Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to “a great artist who transformed an Iranian
childhood into a universal fable”.
Satrapi was born in Rasht (like my own mother) in 1969, then raised in Tehran.
She came of age during the Iranian Revolution and the turbulent years that
followed. As political repression intensified, members of her family and wider
social circle were arrested, persecuted – and in some cases, executed, like her
uncle Anoosh, a former political prisoner and exile, executed by the Islamic
Republic.
First published in 2000,
Persepolis created a transformative shift in comics,
memoir and political storytelling. Eventually extended into four volumes, it
follows Satrapi’s childhood, her adolescence in Vienna (where her parents sent
her to study in 1983) and her later struggle to navigate belonging between Iran
and Europe. Satrapi returned to Tehran to attend university in 1989. In 1994,
she moved back to Europe.
Satrapi finished her studies in France, where she settled, gaining French
nationality in 2006. Last year, she refused France’s prestigious legion
d'honneur, over its “hypocrisy” in its dealings with Iran.
Satrapi illustrated the dislocations of revolution, migration, adolescence and
return in such a way that her memoir travelled far beyond her home country.
Through its deceptively simple black-and-white illustrations,
Persepolis
became globally influential because it offered an intimate account of
revolutionary Iran and exile that challenged dominant stereotypes.
For many readers, Satrapi is still the woman who explained Iran in the
simplest, yet most powerful way."
RIP,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
