In a world full of greys, she drew herself, from the age of 10, when the 1979 revolution swept Iran, to adulthood, in black ink and negative spaces.
Her parents had supported the revolution, only to watch with horror as it gave rise to a repressive regime.
Overnight, bilingual and co-ed schools were abolished, veils were compulsory, Western music, denim jackets, nail polish, and even chess were forbidden.
In the span of a year, Marji understood that adults were making it up as they went.
A teenage girl was married to a prison guard before her execution, since the law forbade executing the unmarried.
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French graphic novelist and filmmaker who passed away on June 3, drew the world’s most dangerous girl in her acclaimed memoir, Persepolis (2000): Someone opinionated and outspoken, who refused to turn a blind eye to injustice and fall in line, even when her life and safety depended on it.
In a world full of greys, she drew herself, from the age of 10, when the 1979 revolution swept Iran, to adulthood, in black ink and negative spaces. Her parents had supported the revolution, only to watch with horror as it gave rise to a repressive regime. Overnight, bilingual and co-ed schools were abolished, veils were compulsory, Western music, denim jackets, nail polish, and even chess were forbidden. In the span of a year, Marji understood that adults were making it up as they went. She catalogued the absurdities with a child’s perplexed eyes. Her uncle, once imprisoned by the Shah, was executed by the new regime. One day at school, a 14-year-old boy, her maid’s son, was handed a plastic key coated in gold paint, ostensibly the key to heaven, before being marched to the war front. A teenage girl was married to a prison guard before her execution, since the law forbade executing the unmarried. Marji heard about her street being bombed, and ran home to find rubble where her Jewish friend’s house was, the bracelet she wore shining through the wreckage.
