by Moftah, Lora

Astoria Street Mural Takes Aim At Iran Human Rights Abuses

Iranian artist Nicky Nodjoumi, 75, in front of the mural he painted in Astoria, Queens. Nodjoumi hopes that the #NotACrime street art campaign will help to raise awareness of human rights abuses in Iran.
Iranian artist Nicky Nodjoumi, 75, in front of the mural he painted in Astoria, Queens. Nodjoumi hopes the #NotACrime street art campaign will raise awareness of human rights abuses in Iran. (Lora Moftah/The Ink)

A group of activists has been creating street art during the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about human rights abuses in Iran, an issue it hopes the global forum will address. The project, known as the #NotACrime Campaign, seeks to promote freedom of expression and religion within Iran. So far, the group has painted almost a dozen murals around New York City.

A quiet street in Astoria played host to the first mural to go up in Queens in late September. The Iranian artist Nicky Nodjoumi, 75, who left his home country in 1980 because of its crackdown on freedom of expression, spent a recent afternoon painting the mural on the side of a building on the street. It isn’t the only piece of street art on the wall. The building, at 11-22 Welling Court, has become a destination for street artists.

Armando Santillan, 10, (R) and Luis Baez, 11, watch the painting of the mural. Both Santillan and Baez were born and raised on this quiet block that has become a street art destination. (Lora Moftah/The Ink)
Armando Santillan, 10, (R) and Luis Baez, 11, watch the painting of the mural. Both Santillan and Baez were born and raised on this quiet block that has become a street art destination. (Lora Moftah/The Ink)

Local residents take pride in the art that goes up on their block. Armando Santillan, 10, was born and raised on Welling Court and said street art is part of his earliest childhood memories. As Nodjoumi and his assistant Christina Rea, 22, worked on the #NotACrime mural, Santillan, who was off from school for the Yom Kippur holiday, sat on a nearby stoop with his friend Luis Baez, 11, watching them paint. “I like it,” he said of the piece, which features a pair of handcuffed hands and the words “Journalism is not a crime.” Santillan said he interpreted the mural to be a warning about the dangers of “when people judge other people.”

Avni Elevli, 15, rode by on his bike and also paused to watch the painting. For Elevli, also an Astoria native, the mural’s message about freedom of expression hit closer to home. “Our First Amendment rights are always violated,” he said. “It’s good to have a mural to put the word out.”

Avni Elevli, 15, stops to watch the painting of the mural while biking around Astoria on his day off of school. (Lora Moftah/The Ink)
Avni Elevli, 15, stops to watch the painting of the mural while biking around Astoria on his day off of school. (Lora Moftah/The Ink)

While a mural on a sleepy street in Astoria might not gain the attention of world leaders, Nodjoumi was happy to get the attention of local young people. “The kids here are fantastic,” he said. “They keep stopping to watch, to ask questions. That’s very important for us, for younger generations to ask questions and not just follow what the politicians are saying.”

— Lora Moftah