A Tale of Oil

Sona Safaei-Sooreh revisits the aesthetics of 1950s corporate propaganda to consider colonial tensions in Iran.

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Revolving: a family tale by Sona Safaei-Sooreh, at Centre A in Vancouver until Nov. 27, is a graphic art installation that illustrates the colonial tensions that surged between Iran and British Petroleum during the 1950s.

Safaei-Sooreh was inspired by corporate cartoon advertisements by British illustrator Ronald Searle in the same period. She revisits the eviction of Britain from Iran during the events that led up to and followed the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, an uncomfortable history of British and American intervention in the Iranian oil-production industry. Searle’s cartoons are character driven line-drawings that show playful household scenes where children ask their grizzled and frustrated fathers why their cars just aren’t working right – you know, kids’ stuff.

Safaei-Sooreh imagines an entire family life and future for Searle’s characters to draw the events of the past into the present, exploring the nationalized oil industry’s impact on present-day life through a playful and contemporary narrative. She gives names to the characters from Searle’s 1951 ad campaign for what was then the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, imagining them as friends and family. In the old ads, “Edwin,” “William” and “Thomas” talk to their daughters about how they long for the old days when BP’s petrol flowed like honey, when sports cars were “more sporting.”

As she reimagines it, the youths in these ads grew up to have their own daughters. Their memories are jogged by a 2020 real-life news story about the interception of an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, and they recall their grandfathers’ involvement in the 1953 coup, which Britain and the United States orchestrated to remove Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had sought to limit foreign control of Iranian oil reserves, and to solidify the monarchy’s power under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Her installation involves a range of media. The longer story appears as a printed comic strip, distributed like the Saturday funnies. There are two lightbox pieces, a large-scale sculpture of “Edwin” resting on the floor, and an illuminated illustration that corresponds to a panel from the adjacent graphic-art decal, marking the approval of nationalized oil. As well, a few laser-cut metal figures of the present-day grandchildren are mounted on the wall, hanging out in gossip formation. Last, a single-channel video juxtaposes archival footage of British workers being interviewed during their expulsion from Iran, and a scene from the original Walt Disney Cinderella, where the stepmother, representing British Petroleum, tells Cinderella, a metaphorical stand-in for Iran, that she can go to the ball only if she finishes her chores.

I was mystified by the work, largely because I’m unfamiliar with this history. To make greater sense of it, I had to do some research. Safaei-Sooreh, an Iranian–born artist based in Toronto, says her work explores the aesthetics used to represent West Asian countries in Western propaganda. The comic offers an approachable access to this complex history, where the fictional family are like ciphers gently concealing a more aggressive colonial narrative that infantilizes Iran, making the country appear naïve and incapable of autonomous self-care. ■  

Sona Safaei-Sooreh: Revolving: a family tale at Centre A in Vancouver from Sept. 16 to Nov. 27, 2021.

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Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art

205-268 Keefer Street (Sun Wah Centre), Vancouver, British Columbia V6A 1X5

604-683-8326

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