How the Eyes on Iran graphic design was created
Our new book Graphic Classics reveals the back stories to some of the most momentous designs in history
Graphic Classics, our new deep dive into graphic design history, presents the work of more than 400 designers across 33 countries and 5 continents, with work dating back to the 14th century.
The book’s dizzying array of designs ranges from the Gutenberg Bible to Joy Division album art, with work by both anonymous creators and industry icons such as Aleksandr Rodchenko, Paul Rand, Paula Scher, Ahn Sang-soo, and Julia Born along the way. It’s the perfect reference guide for design and art lovers, enthusiasts, and professionals at any stage of their careers, as well as all those interested in and impacted by visual communication.
But more than that it is a look at the designs that shaped the contemporary world around us. In this election year we’ve chosen to focus on some of the iconic and groundbreaking campaigning social and political designs in the book. This story reveals the background to Mahvash Mostala and Hank Willis Thomas's 2022 poster design Eyes on Iran created for For Freedoms, Vital Voices, U.S.
In New York City on December 3, 2022, a banner flew amid the skyscrapers. Stemming from a collaboration between Hank Willis Thomas’s nonprofit, For Freedoms, the Iranian artists Shirin Neshat and Mahvash Mostala, and the French photographer and artist JR, among others, “Eyes on Iran” was an art activation project launched to coincide with the United Nation’s campaign, “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.”
The project was initiated after three months of worldwide protests, sparked by the death in custody of twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman who was arrested and detained in Tehran by the country’s morality police for wearing her headscarf “incorrectly.” The rules regarding the wearing of hijab were mandated under Iran’s penal code following the 1979 Islamic revolution; any deviation from this can result in arrest or worse.
The series of installations happened in and around the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park and included a mural by Neshat of an eye looking toward the UN complex, urging the world to keep its eyes on Iran. Another installation saw aerial banners by Thomas and Mostala crisscross the city’s skyline; Mostala’s featured an eye underlined by the phrase, “Woman, Life, Freedom,” the call-to-arms slogan of the protests. The eye’s pupil reflected a self-portrait of Mostala and the Farsi word for “Woman” ( نز( .
First presented above Miami during the Art Basel art fair, the flying billboards were brought to New York to raise awareness for the UN vote on Iran’s membership on the Commission on the Status of Women. On December 14, 2022, the UN passed a resolution to oust the Islamic Republic of Iran from the commission because it “continuously undermines and increasingly suppresses the human rights of women and girls.”
At a time when many protesters have been killed or are facing the death penalty, the UN’s vote was critical in retracting support for the state. As Mostala explained, “This piece is in solidarity with the Iranian Woman, especially the young generation, who have fiercely brought the voice of the Iranian Woman to the global stage. This moment in our history is a defining reflection of the strength of Iranian women all over the world.”