“It would be more comfortable to do it in writing, because my Portuguese is still limited and I’m always frustrated by not being able to express myself well.”
This is how the conversation with Fereshteh Najafi, an Iranian illustrator who has been living in Brazil since 2015, began. But the fear of exposing ideas in a new language and alphabet, so different from Farsi and Persian, was like a cloudy sky that dawns, but that quickly faded away.
In an extensive exchange of emails, the author, who chose Curitiba to illustrate her books for children and young people, underlined positions with delicate clarity and spoke transparently about Iran, Brazil, children’s literature and illustrated books.
“In Iran, I was already working as an illustrator and art director for a children’s magazine in Tehran. I left the country in search of more freedom and professional growth”, says Najafi.
The speech summarizes one of the main decisions of the author’s life, who separated from her family when she left her home country, where she never returned. But the phrase is also mixed up with the synopsis of his most recent book released in Brazil. “A Menina e as Estrelas”, with a text by Brazilian Mariana Ianelli and published by Olho de Vidro publishing house, presents a girl who leaves her city and heads into the unknown in search of independence and autonomy.
In the story, the character’s land is dominated by the mysterious barrel organ man. There, “woe to anyone who sang anything different”, “woe to anyone who invented a new joke”, “woe to anyone who wanted anything just for the hell of it”. The result is a quiet, guarded society, permeated by silences, where the protagonist girl “didn’t say what she dreamed of, didn’t dare even think”.
The author from São Paulo wrote the title inspired by the North Korean Yeonmi Park, who fled the Pyongyang dictatorship, was a victim of human trafficking in China, escaped to Mongolia, settled in South Korea, studied in the United States and became human rights activist. “But in a way, it’s my story too,” says Najafi. “Despite being a very lean narrative, it is very dense and reminds me of the experiences I went through.”
Here, it is not necessary to dwell on the Iranian theocracy and the deprivations imposed on the population, especially on women. Just remember that, last year, young Mahsa Amini was killed after being detained by the country’s moral police for not wearing the hijab correctly.
According to her family and activists, she was murdered by the police. According to the official version, Amini died because of an illness. The case sparked outrage and protests, which were violently quelled by tens of thousands of arrests, deaths during the rallies, death sentences and a tightening of rules on the wearing of the headscarf.
“In ‘A Menina e as Estrelas’, I didn’t want to focus on a specific country. There are many dictatorships around the world and they all have the same characteristics — they are societies without freedom of expression, subjected to tyranny”, says the illustrator.
But it is not possible to say that Najafi’s art is necessarily militant, although the constant clash between brute force and delicacy is visible in his books. In Brazil, it has just one more title printed, “Pê e o Vasto Mundo”, by Paulo Venturelli, currently in the Maralto publishing house catalogue. Currently, she is working on an original project for Ôzé.
“I see many interesting authors and publishers in Brazil. Very good illustrators. But I realize that, despite being a populous country, the children’s literature market is not very hot. It seems that, in general, children don’t read much”, he evaluates. “In Iran we have similar problems, but literature seems to occupy a greater place in our culture. It is normal for a taxi driver to know how to recite verses by Hafez or Khayyam”, she says, referring to two Persian poets — the first, from the 16th century. 14; the second, from the 11th century.
In all, Najafi has around 30 books released in countries like Italy, France, Lebanon, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Iran, of course. Among the events in which he has exhibited his work, there are important circuits of children’s literature and illustrated books, including the Illustration Biennale in Bratislava, in Slovakia, the Nami Concours, in South Korea, and the Children’s Book Fair in Bologna. , in Italy.
In common, their titles feature hand-drawn illustrations, which abuse textures and earthy colors. “In personal projects, I like to explore my roots. My illustration dialogues with ancient Persian art, especially the illuminations.”
An art that is now seen from a distance. Upon leaving Tehran in 2008, Najafi first moved to Italy. It was there that he received an invitation to illustrate “Pê e o Vasto Mundo”, which at that time had been published by Editora Positivo, from Curitiba. When she came to participate in the launch in Brazil, in 2015, she met her husband, who worked as an art editor at the publisher. At the end of that same year, she was already living in Paraná.
“I like Curitiba, it’s an organized city, full of beautiful trees and lots of birds,” he says. And how would you describe Tehran? “It’s gray and very big. Lots of traffic, lots of buildings, lots of cats and crows in the streets.”
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