Have quite the interesting story to share about these pillows/beanbags/chairs. The artist, Parastou Forouhar, an Iranian that fled Tehran during the revolution, put together these pieces made of fabric used for the mourning ceremonies in Iran and covered with Quran verses.
Few hours into the exhibition, had the privilege of being visited by some very pleasant chirpy folks from the Ministry of Information at our favourite little neighboring country, Iran. Those chirpy folks weren't so chirp when they saw the below pieces: "Harramm! Blasphemy! Who's the artist? Where's the gallery owner??"
This followed with a "Please don't sit on" sign - which was lovingly ignored by every man, his wife, children, grandparents and occasional dog.
We had them removed on the second day of the fair for fear of having the gallery owner banned from entering his country again. Needless to say,they did come back asking more questions, and I played the sweet little dumb old me who knew nothing of what these "bean bags" were about.
Censorship onto new heights in our neighboring country a gross understatement, eh?
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