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According to Shargh Media Group, the commemoration ceremony for painter Mansoureh Alikhani, who was martyred in the Zionist regime's attack on Iran along with her husband Saeed Borji, a nuclear scientist of our country, was held on Tuesday evening, 14 Tir month, with the performance of the Bouzari sermon and in the presence of Mohammad Mehdi Dadman, head of the Art Center, Nadereh Rezaei, Deputy Minister of Culture for Arts, Niknam Hosseinpour, Director of Public Relations at the Ministry of Culture, Mohammad Zarrouei Nasrabad, CEO of the Naam Cultural and Artistic Institute, Aidin Mehdizadeh, Director General of Visual Arts, Seyyed Amir Javid, Deputy Head of the Art Center for International Affairs, Kazem Chalipa, Seyyed Ali Mirfatah, Abdul Hamid Ghadirian, Mahmoud Abdul Hosseini, Seyyed Hamid Sharifi Al Hashem, Saber Sheikh Rezaei, Mehdi Metwalian, Director General of Visual Arts of the Fateh Narrative Foundation, Mohammad Habibi, Taher Sheikh Al-Hokmaei, Hossein Esmati, Naser Seifi, Majid Riazi, Mina Sadri, family and a group of painters and friends of martyr Alikhani. Kazem Chalipa, who was the first speaker at the memorial service for Shaheed Alikhani, said: "Everyone is destined to die and we have no control over anything except for one thing, and that is time and the time that we have been given." Shaheed Alikhani had a special personality and did not waste time and created works in order to find herself. If I go back to the years when the art school was newly established, the late Abolfazl Aali introduced Alikhani to me, and it happened to be the day I was working on the painting "Sacrifice." That day, Shaheed Alikhani sat on the floor and looked at me with her hand under her chin. Then the late Aali introduced her and said, "Ms. Alikhani is one of my relatives. She is interested in painting and I want you to work with her." After this introduction, I talked to Alikhani about various things and realized that she is very emotional, introverted and patient. She speaks little but has many questions, and this was very important. He continued: "Whenever Alikhani saw me, he would greet me with enthusiasm and talk about artistic matters. He would show me his works and talk about them. He was very serious in his work and had a high neck, meaning he had an artistic pride that made him not bow down to anything. Alikhani was a self-reliant person, very quiet and reserved. Alikhani was not a herdsman unless the knife reached the bone." Chalipa said: "I always guided Alikhani as much as I could. His last work was the Ashura painting, the initial sketch of which he showed me, and I also found some flaws in it and was supposed to fix them. One of the important points is that Alikhani was a semantic, believing, and free artist and looked deeply at the issue of art." He emphasized: "There are three important principles in the art of painting that make some artists do descriptive work, some do decorative work, and some look more deeply at nature and have analytical art." Alikhani had all the arts. Alikhani had pursued all three types in his works and the works in his exhibition last year. He was a seeker and it was a shame. The painter, stating that we should appreciate the living, said: "Mansoureh Alikhani was one of these people who liked to be seen and talked about his works or have a book published about his works, and I want a book to be published about his works and the analyses and theories about Alikhani to be published in it." He concluded by saying: Alikhani loved painting and created lasting works. He was a very active and educated person and always maintained his pride. He worked with all his convictions, and on this basis, he needs to be introduced, and I hope that people like Alikhani will become role models for future generations." Seydamir Javid, Deputy Head of the Arts Center for International Affairs, continued the ceremony, emphasizing the importance of introducing the martyr and his special position, saying: "Martyrs and martyrdom, unlike other matters that require human planning and effort to introduce, are chosen and introduced by God Himself." He said: "One of the aspects that makes us say that God has chosen the martyr in the matter of martyrdom and martyrdom is His choice is that, unlike the work and personal planning that we try and provide facilities to introduce a person or art, in the case of martyrdom and martyrdom, the main introducer is God Himself. By choosing the martyr, God introduces him to a wider audience through His will, and this indicates the divine role in the process of martyrdom." Javid said: "The artistic and cultural efforts made to introduce the martyr are merely part of the divine path and this is the first step in divine planning. The introduction of this noble martyr will continue, and the measures taken are only a starting point for expanding these programs." The next speaker was Seyed Ali Mirftah, a painter and journalist, who analyzed the cultural and artistic situation in recent decades and said: In the past decades, our culture saw martyrdom in a different way. اگر کسی شهید میشد، خانوادهاش را به عنوان تبریک و تسلیت میدیدیم که مقدمه بر تسلیت بود. But this culture has disappeared for many years and there is no trace of it. He stated: The recent 12-day war was a push to restore and revive this culture and remind the truth that the martyrs are alive and have sustenance with God. In this war, the power of the blood of the martyrs and their oppressed causes them to do things that are beyond the ability to revive them. For example, Iran's missile, whose commander was martyred, was one of the main factors in maintaining the country's security and authority. Mirfatah also pointed to the media in social fields and said: When we see Muslims around the world making the flag of this resistance in support of the people, we should know that this is the result of oppression and the power of the blood of martyrs.This is the same power and strength that should be discovered and used in the cultural and artistic fields and should not be turned into complimentary and slogan-based relations. Stating that Iran's major cities do not have a proper visual identity, he added: "We have many artists and painters, but most of them either go to other fields or become employed. Is Tehran's visual appeal enough for foreign tourists to want to take pictures next to our works of art?" Mirfatah concluded by emphasizing the role of architects and artists in improving the state of aesthetics and stated: "Today, architecture is limited to profitability, and part of the blame for this lies with the artists themselves, who have not been able to advance aesthetics appropriate to the Islamic Revolution. Our best works of art still belong to the 1960s; a decade that we are still indebted to and must progress from." Then traditional music and the piece "E Iran" were performed on the reed. Nadereh Rezaei, Deputy for Artistic Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, continued: "How much should be spent in a country to make a general like Sardar Baqeri proud and to have a Rashid and an artist?" Should we have nuclear scientists, artists, etc.? More than 40 artists active in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance are on the list of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance who have been martyred, more than 150 women, more than 40 children, and 150 soldiers defending the homeland lost their lives in defending our development and security infrastructure. Along with the great bitterness of losing all this capital and young faces, I think creating a work for life derived from creativity and in the life of the times can be a continuation of the path. He stated: In the 1360s, in a way, the narrative of the eight years of sacred defense was important, and the front line of that was artists. In another way, this narrative is our necessity today, and I hope that lasting peace will prevent the continuation of war because no war is sacred, but defense is sacred. The Deputy Minister of Arts Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance stated: As history shows, we did not start any war in history, but we stood proudly and bravely wherever we were attacked, and it is our right to have the upper hand in this narrative. The enemy spends millions of dollars to forge a narrative, and I ask all artists to use whatever artistic tools you have to create a narrative and convey the voice of Iran's oppression to the world. I ask artists to help strengthen national solidarity. He clarified: What can be helpful, and you artists were the pioneers of this, is to prevent the voice of our commonalities and what builds solidarity from being silenced and to raise the voice of other voices. The necessity these days is to turn a blind eye to differences and strive for national solidarity. Continuing the ceremony, Sedighe Salman, a painter and a friend of the martyred artist, spoke about her acquaintance and collaboration with Mansoura Alikhani, stating: My acquaintance with Mansoura goes back to 1987-1988, when she used to visit a painting studio to prepare for the art entrance exam. After many years, in the 1970s and then at meetings at the Visual Arts Center, our collaboration began again, and this relationship turned into a deep and sincere friendship. Referring to the moral qualities of Shahideh Alikhani, he said: "She was a cheerful, kind, compassionate, and honest person who welcomed challenges for intellectual and artistic growth. In the past two decades, she had an active presence in artistic events and played a role in the visual arts workshops of the Art Center alongside prominent professors such as Professor Chalipa and Professor Asadi." Salman emphasized: "With her great interest in studying, experimenting with new materials, and transcending traditional formats, Mansoureh Alikhani moved her path from realism to conceptual art. Her works reflected social and environmental concerns, and her outlook on life, people, and especially women and children of Iran was always full of love and responsibility." Mina Sadri, a painter and sculptor, was another speaker at the ceremony, saying: "Achieving the honorable status of a martyr is a sign of Mansoureh Alikhani's kind heart and gentle and clear soul." She had a long-term effort in creating works and many searches for this achievement, and in this path she experienced numerous methods with different subjects from the Masnavi to Ashura subjects. She formed a path in her artistic work that the main concern of these works was Iran and Iranian culture. Shahideh Alikhani created valuable and thought-provoking works on the subject of Iranian culture and the martyrs of the sacred defense and the defenders of the shrine. At the end of the ceremony, Mojgan Alikhani, the sister of Shaheed Mansoureh Alikhani, stated at her sister's memorial service: "Mansoureh was more than a kind sister and a committed artist; she was the inspiration and encouragement of the family on the path of art. She believed that art begins when creativity takes shape, and her notebooks were always full of drawings and paintings. Her love for work and art accompanied her until the last moment, and even during her illness, she did not abandon her artistic activity. I am grateful to Professor Kazem Chalipa and the Art Center for providing a space for her growth and interest. Alikhani's memorial service ended with the presentation of a plaque to the family of Shaheed Mansoureh Alikhani by Nadereh Rezaei, Deputy Minister of Culture for Arts, and the opening of an exhibition of the artist's works at the Aali Gallery. The exhibition of works by Martyr Mansoureh Alikhani, which includes 25 paintings by this artist, opened on July 14, simultaneously with the holding of his memorial and commemoration ceremony. The exhibition will be open from July 15 to August 26, 1404, from Saturday to Wednesday from 9:00 to 18:00. Interested parties can visit the Abolfazl Alikhani Gallery located on Somayeh Street, before reaching Hafez Street, Hozeh Honari to view the works.