The Iranian Siblings Criticizing Border Control Through Art

Iranian artist siblings Icy And Sot create conceptual installations with artistic symbolism. Their works transcend their own experience of artistic censorship, to portray a range of political, social justice, and human rights issues.

The Brooklyn-based artists, who sought political asylum in America from their native hometown of Tabriz in 2012, use public street art, sculpture, murals, and installations as a means to envisage a world released from the grips of violence, war, and corruption. Dubbed by many as the ‘Banksys of Iran’, the repression of their controversial art and subsequent arrests by Iranian authorities, led to an opportunity to have their work exhibited in New York City. The emotional decision to follow through meant the brothers can never return to their birth country again. Three of their recent works—‘An Open Door’, ‘The Fence Between Us’, and ‘The New American Flag’—each depicts border control policies, alluding to the dangers of division and the anti-immigration rhetoric that is plaguing our world.