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| Behrouz Heshmat |
Forty years ago, sculptor Behrouz Heshmat was forced to leave his homeland after facing threats from the Intelligence and National Security Organization of the Pahlavi regime (SAVAK) in Iran. In an interview with Voice of America, the Tabriz-born master artist talks about his migration, his hometown, and his artistic endeavors.
Heshmat’s departure from Iranian Azerbaijan was linked to a sculpture of an ashik (folk musician) he had created at the time.
"My last work was a statue of an ashik, a symbol of Azerbaijani music. I had sculpted it, and its unveiling was supposed to be carried out by the then-Prime Minister [Amir Abbas] Hoveyda. However, SAVAK and the provincial governor did not allow it. They ordered the mayor to remove the statue... The mayor told me, 'First, they will take the statue down, and then they will come for you,'" he recounts, explaining the incident that led to his migration.
According to him, although the statue, erected in one of Tabriz’s squares, was removed a few months later on SAVAK’s orders, it had already drawn considerable public attention in that short time.
"People from the city, from villages, from everywhere, would come and take pictures with the statue. It was the only statue of an ashik ever erected in the city. There were statues of the Shah in every square, but the people had never seen a statue of their own cultural symbol. The fact that they removed the ashik statue only proved its significance. If they had left it standing, their hostility toward Azerbaijan’s voice and identity would not have been so obvious. But the removal of the statue caused an uproar, like a bomb going off."
The artist’s ashik statue has since been relocated and now stands in another part of Tabriz.
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| Aşıq heykəli |
After settling in Austria, Behrouz Heshmat says he continued using his art to reflect what was happening in Iran:
"Here, both your audience changes and you yourself change. But this work is similar to journalism. Just as ashiks traveled from village to village spreading news, sculpture serves the same purpose. My effort in my artistic work here is to show what is happening in Iran, what the news from Iran is. However, the way I express myself and the forms of my sculptures have changed."
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| "Work and Thought" – A Work by Behrouz Heshmat |
The master sculptor speaks about his feelings for his hometown, Tabriz, emphasizing that he has never forgotten it:
"A person is like a tree; they have roots, and they carry them wherever they go. An artist is also known by their roots—where they come from, what they bring with them, what gifts they have to offer. Sometimes, our gifts are our sorrows. For 35 years, I had no passport here. The Islamic Republic had stolen my Iranian identity from me. Later, due to my work in Austria, I was granted honorary citizenship. I am happy that I have found my place here, that I have something to say—I did not come empty-handed."
"Tabriz is an ancient and heroic city. A city of art and culture, a city of life. Tabriz has never bowed its head; it is a city of pride. I also began my artistic journey in Tabriz. At night, when I sleep, I go to Tabriz; when I wake up in the morning, I find myself in Austria," says Behrouz Heshmat, describing the hometown he has not seen in 40 years.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Behruz Həşmət: Təbrizdən Vyanaya əliboş gəlmədim