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Narges Mohammadi
Iran
Narges Mohammadi studied Graphic Design at Shahed Art University in Tehran, and has since illustrated over twenty books. She's received international recognition for her work and has won many awards, such as the CJ Picture Book Award in Korea. Narges has featured in the prestigious Bologna Illustrators Exhibition several times.
In this post, Narges shares some striking illustrations and talks about her latest picturebook, ‘Goodnight Commander’. This powerful story by Ahmad Akbarpour gives us a glimpse into the world of a young boy who has lost his mother and one of his legs in a war.
Narges: I started illustrating books in 2006 after being encouraged by the Austrian printmaker and illustrator, Linda Wolfsgruber.
With any new story I have a new challenge, and meeting this challenge is the most enjoyable thing I do! ‘Goodnight Commander’ is a powerful story about war and peace by a famous Iranian writer called Ahmad Akbarpour. This is one of the most rewarding stories which I've had the chance to illustrate. The story is about war in general, not in a particular place in the world.
As well as experiencing positive things like laughter, playing, pleasure, comfort, and security, children can also experience fear, hate, revenge, separation, anger, and other feelings which we consider ‘bad’. But we should never deny the existence of these feelings! I think it's important that we speak to children about these feelings through different stories.
Children of war may become orphans. They may experience displacement and terrible conditions which become their world. Through speaking about war, children can discover peace. Through speaking about a certain feeling, they can learn to understand its opposite feeling.
Unfortunately, publishers often think that sad or scary stories are not good for children, and so we don't have enough books that deal with these feelings. We all know about the reaction to Maurice Sendak's book, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’.
The boy in this story, who doesn't even have a name, has lost his leg and his mother in a war. He is playing with his tin soldiers and recreates the scene in his bedroom. So I tried to be like a film director: I imagined that I was in the room with a camera which I would position at different angles to capture the action.
The boy is full of revenge for both his lost leg and his lost mother. I created a scene at the beginning of the book with the boy standing amongst his things in front of a photo of his mother on the wall.
My illustration technique for books usually involves collage, monoprint, pencil, and using different handmade papers. These are the materials I used for this book too. I always try to select two or three specific colours for my work, and sometimes I use old paper which I've had stored away for years. I like my work to have an old and almost antique feel to it.
I also welcome things that happen unconsciously while I'm working. I think these spontaneous moments are like poetry: creating something which I hadn't even thought about before! I think this is awesome!
Illustrations © Narges Mohammadi.
شب به خیر فرماند
Goodnight Commander
Ahmad Akbarpour & Narges Mohammadi
Ofogh Publishing House, Iran, 2015
‘Goodnight Commander’ gives us a glimpse into the world of a young boy who has lost his mother and one of his legs in a war. The boy recreates the conflict in his bedroom with an imaginary enemy and tin soldiers.
The boy meets an enemy soldier who is also missing a limb. Empathising with this soldier, the boy offers him his own artificial leg. And as he does, his mother smiles down on him from her picture on the wall, acknowledging his hurt and giving him comfort.
