Cinema of Trust – Mahsa Qureshi wrote in the Cinema Museum following some reactions in the virtual space after the unveiling of the statue of her mother (as the first statue of a female actress to be placed in the Museum of Cinema): “This statue was created in memory of my mother’s artistic creations.
According to ISNA, a few days had not passed since my mother’s unparalleled eternal flight; The grief of his loss was heavy and unbelievable. We were sitting next to Morteza and Afrooz (close friends of my mother) and we were talking about him. We were all saddened by this sudden move and worried about how we can keep the memory of the great lady of Iranian cinema alive.
A few months before his departure, the mother had seen a statue of Mr. Morteza Saeedi (sculptor) and jokingly asked him: “When will it be my turn to make a statue?” Morteza was thinking of giving him a small statue on the occasion of his birthday, but unfortunately fate didn’t give him this opportunity and the idea of making his statue came to life with the passing of his mother.
Mr. Esmaili and Mrs. Hyderabadi (Cinema Museum officials) welcomed this idea and decided to display the first statue of an artist in the Cinema Museum. The creation of the statue started with the cooperation of Morteza Saeedi and Afroz Bojaria three months after the death of the mother and we were able to unveil this statue on Wednesday, August 24 in the presence of colleagues, friends and family.
This statue provoked different reactions, some felt the mother’s presence upon seeing it and their hearts started beating. Some others did not approach him for fear of bringing him to life, and some criticized his resemblance and questioned why he was created like that.
But what is valuable for me as a survivor of this artist is to keep his memory alive. The meaning of the word “statue” must be understood correctly; The importance of the statue is not in its likeness, but in the image and symbol that the artist leaves behind.
If we want to limit the purpose of making statues only to likeness, maybe museums such as “Madame Tussauds” and “Grun” would not exist today, because in these museums, artists have worked more on icons than likenesses.
We, the children of artists, have a great responsibility; It is a duty to keep their name and memory eternal and leave their legacy to the next generations through love and art.
It should be noted: the unveiling ceremony of the Bita Farhi statue was held in the evening of August 24 at the Cinema Museum, and after this program and the publication of its photos, while there were positive reactions, some criticisms were also raised in the virtual space.