To Protest Iran’s Anti-Gay Abuses, an Artist Painted a Dictator’s Car

Courtesy of John Parra/Getty Images for PaykanArtCar

To Protest Iran’s Anti-Gay Abuses, an Artist Painted a Dictator’s Car

“Wherever there is injustice, we need to talk about it,” Alireza Shojaian said.

New york times –Nov. 1, 2021

By Brett Berk

The Paykan was the first car manufactured in Iran. Produced from 1967 to 2015, it started life as a licensed copy of an outmoded British vehicle, the Hillman Hunter, but it nevertheless became a symbol of national pride, priced for middle-class Iranians.

Paykans eventually became ubiquitous on the streets of Tehran, serving as sedans, wagons, pickups, and taxis. In 1974, as a token of connection (or collusion) between two regimes, the shah of Iran gave a Paykan limousine to Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator.

That very car made news again this May among Iranians, at home, and in the expatriate community, when it appeared for sale at a Bucharest auction house. Though it had an expected hammer price of 10,000 euros, it ended up selling for €95,000. It has resurfaced, colorfully painted by the Iranian artist Alireza Shojaian, who identifies as queer, and was displayed recently at a human rights conference held in Miami.

“I am from Iran, but to be able to continue my art, I had to leave my country,” Mr. Shojaian said in a call from Paris, where he was granted asylum in 2019 after three years in exile in Beirut, citing the Iranian government’s brutal repression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/01/business/art-car-iran.html