Persian Garden

In the face of President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, on January 2017, which forbade Iranian entry into the United States (It is worth mentioning that no Iranian have ever been involved in any terrorist operations in the United States), I curated “Persian Garden” show in Gallery 114 at the Kresge Art Center. The exhibition consisted of 76 posters of Iranian famous designers in two sections and showed without any name and details of their designers and subjects. These posters focued on Persian typography and culture but their designers were absent. This absence is ironic — a reaction to Trump’s travel ban that illustrates how open-minded people are suffering from political strife. On the other hand, it was a great opportunity to study how western viewers will face and react to artworks that come from a different visual culture.