TEHRAN – The 50th Land Art Festival will open in the nomadic black tents in the Mehdishahr region of Semnan Province today.

Black tents are woven by nomad women from the hair of black goats and over 50 land artists will be taking part in the festival to create their earthenware works during the three-day festival.

“In this edition of the festival, the artists will make their artworks with clay to be later installed inside and outside the black tents,” land artist Ahmad Nadalian told the Persian service of ISNA.

“One of the reasons for choosing clay for this edition is that many artists in Semnan produce artworks with clay due to the region’s hot and dry climate. Even children of Mehdishar make little statues with clay while their mothers bake bread in traditional clay ovens,” he explained.

“The black tents of this region are more beautiful and much larger in size and their inner decorations resemble Persian architecture,” Nadalian, who also manages the workshops during the festival, said.

He added that the world is paying due attention to nomadic art with the aim of promoting a lifestyle like that of the nomads who move, create and leave behind no trace of damage in the environment.
Kurosh Golnari, Maryam Kuhestani, Shahrnaz Zarkesh, Yaser Rajabali, Atefeh Arani, Masih Taj and Mehdi Javaheri are among the participating artists.

Nadalian is famous for his land art creations in Iran and around the world. He has been living in nature for many years and searches for raw materials for his artistic creations. He later displays them in natural settings; both his concepts and the materials are related to nature.

RM/YAW
END