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My long-term experience in Hormuz Island and Qeshm villages shows that teaching and doing artwork can be useful as a method to increase self-confidence. If you travel to Hormuz Island, you will see that women play a prominent role in various jobs. In the first years when tourism was gradually formed, the first job of women in the public environment was selling paintings. I believe that teaching painting to many women and marketing the works in the first years of my life in Hormuz Island played a very important role in raising the self-confidence of girls and women. Based on the original archetype, this experience has been passed on to another generation.
My steps were as follows:
At the beginning I behave in a way that the women don’t be ashamed of their teacher.
Training and building self-confidence while women paint in the begining,
Facilitating the presence of girls and women in the public environment,
Making a prototype was the most difficult task.
Overcoming obstacles and turning threats into opportunities.
Encouraging other women to join the first role models,
If some people in a traditional societies accepts a modle of busness , the others will also accept it and later it will become a custom.
After a period of time, the other women joined,
Creating a bubble or artificial market for new women,
Training creative marketing
Useing of media and its importance.
Creating concepts for successfull marketing,
What does the customer buy? Work or memory?
I will explain the items listed above in order
At the beginning I behave in a way that the women don’t be ashamed of their teacher.
In general, when you first travel to an environment where there are few strangers, you will see that women in such environments have not socialized with strange men, they are very shy. When I visited Hormuz Island in the first years women shay. I voluntarily organized a free class of painting for women who were single or had no income. At the begining women very shy. I behave in a way that the women don’t be ashamed of their teacher. It took me a long time to get permission to take pictures.
Training and building self-confidence while women paint in the begining,
I had two types of students on Hormuz Island. The first group were talented people who had imagination: like Kaniz Abbaspanah, Mohsen Eslami, Musib Daryapima. The first group was encouraged to paint their imaginatin.
The second group were women who wanted to learn painting as a craft for income. At the begining, I tried to increase their self-confidence. I tryed to teach painting in a way that was very simple. I wanted to teach them a new kind of craft that they could earn money.
By providing the pattern and placing the glass on it, they drew the designs. Sometimes the works wre imaginative. I asked my friends and tourists who trusted me to buy their paintings anyway. When they were encouraged, they believed in their own abilities.
Facilitating presence in the public environment,
Do you know what was the main chalenge? Being in public and selling paintings was the most difficult part of it. The first time is very difficult. I was alone on the first day.I had good sales. My intention wat to prove tourist buy art works in public place.
Making a prototype was the most difficult task.
On the second day, two girls accompanied me. But some men behaved very rudely. They broke the painting behind the glass and attacked me. They didn’t want girls to be with a stranger man. The girls were scared and crying.
Overcoming obstacles and turning threats into opportunities
The next day, we again continued our work. We sold the broken works for twice the price. These broken works became an allegory that narrate the sufferings women. The final achievement was facilitate the presence of girls and women in public environments.
Wounds: Post Event of works by Ahmad Nadalian and Hormuz’s Women
احمد نادعلیان: تبدیل چالش ها و تهدید ها به فرصتی برای آفرینش هنر خلاق اجتماعی
Encouraging others to join,
I encouraged the other women and girls to sell their painting in public place.
In traditional societies, if a few people perform an action, it becomes normal with the passing of time and others accept that action much more easily. One of the easiest ways is to introduce the first person as an example and archetype for others.
Later more people join this trend. After a while many husbands and men became supporters of women, and selling paintings in public environments became a custom and developed.
Creating a bubble or artificial market for beginners
New people always came to learn painting. They were not very professional. Sometimes in Hormuz, I asked my friends to buy from a certain seller. They consciously gave money to empower women. The painting itself was not judged. Later, everyone was satisfied. Maybe Ms. Sabrieh Salehi and Ms. Fateme Nasaji still do not know that I asked a lady doctor to buy their work at a high price. Once in the first days when Mrs. Fatemeh Mohammadi went to the public to sell, she was shy. One of the tourists told her, why don’t you talk? At that time, that tourist had bought a lot of works at a high price. These types of cases had a great impact on women to go to the public environment and boldly explain about their work.
Creative marketing training
Besides teaching painting to girls and women, I always explained to them how to identify the target community and how to attract their opinion and sell their works. In this way, many girls and women passed me and continued their creative work.
Creating concepts for success in marketing,
The research in the field of local legends, such as: Melmedas, Parizad, the story of two sisters in love: Bibi Gol and Bibi Surat, as well as the contemporary narrating of them, made women use concepts that rely on the past but are necessary for the contemporary era when selling the work of narration. These timeless stories focus on self-esteem and depict the new social position of women. In the long term, it was the guarantor of women’s rights in a local community.
Using media and its importance.
One of my conditions for accepting students was that I was allowed to photograph them and publish them in the virtual space and media for successful marketing. I always explained to them in simple language how important virtual space is. In the first years, the people of Hormuz did not have much access to the Internet. Gradually, later they saw my pages. Now many of them request me to take pictures and videos of them and publish them.
What does the customer buy? Work or memory?
Establishing a close relationship with tourists, talking about life, speaking well helped the tourist to buy a product as a souvenir of the trip.
During a decade between 2009 and 2019, many girls and women sold paintings in the public environment. Due to several reasons, the production and sale of paintings decreased. The first reason was to pay attention to the sustainable environment and not to use colored soils. After the growth of tourism and the threat to the environment, it was not necessary to use soil. Indted we gradually replaced the colored poders and and paint on pice of woods. We aldo started painting with colored soil we start to recycling cloth and make collage painting behind the glass.
Although many women no longer paint. They sell other craft and clothes. What remained as a legacy of teaching painting to women on the island is that the self-confidence of women in Hormuz increased and they became professional sellers. Now many of them are independent and supports their family.
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