Marta

OCTOBER 21ST, 2022

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Disney’s best-selling product isn’t a theme park, movie, or a streaming platform, it’s escapism. For decades people have flocked to Disney World to recapture their inner child and avoid the realities of a world that crushes that sense of wonderment and magic. The glamorous nostalgia of Disney will make one forget about problems, worries and issues if you simply believe that it can. Deniz Izadi plays with the paradox that this creates of reality and fantasy throughout her work.

The subversive nature of Deniz’s work mesmerizes her audience with beautiful moving colors like mosquitoes to a bug zapper, only to hit the viewer over the head with her stories of inequity and ironic juxtapositioning. “At first, I was very interested in drawing dark paintings,” Deniz says, “but gradually I realized people prefer to see colorful art.”

That’s exactly what Deniz accomplishes in all her work.

Her unknown faceless girls wearing Micky Mouse ears represent the faceless, unknown, impoverished girls in third-world countries wearing the souvenirs of a multi-billion dollar media conglomerate. “A period in my life was a backpacker,” Deniz says, “On my trip to beautiful Vietnam, a cute little girl from a poor family wore a shiny Mickey Mouse ears hat and her mother was selling flowers, The little girl was drawing shapes on the floor with her finger, She had no idea about Mickey Mouse and the glamor of the Disney World.” Add in a problematic history of Disney, and working conditions, this idea of what is presented and what lies behind it all adds another dimension to her work.

This theme of beautiful presentation vs ugly truth is hammered home in her series featuring Carnivale dancers from Rio de Janeiro. Deniz writes in the description for Viviane, “To understand the Rio samba schools, you have to understand where the schools come from — poor, marginal communities, mostly in the favelas, or shantytowns, of the city. The schools' annual displays cost millions of dollars — a combustible mix of money and poverty, says Aydano Motta, a journalist, and author who has written extensively about Rio's samba schools.

“As she puts it, the Carnival brings both joys and woes to its participants."

"The image of a woman in Carnival is very complex, not just for those on the inside but for the people on the outside as well."

“For Viviane, dancing at the Carnival helps her forget about everyday problems. ‘When I start dancing, when I hear the bateria’s rhythm, I become a completely different person. It is a character that exists there to be happy and to interact with the audience,’ she said, ‘I cannot live without samba anymore.’

“‘I’m in love with the samba school whose honor I uphold, and when I die I think they’ll put a Salgueiro crest on my coffin.’”

Even those aware cannot escape the draw to the beautiful as opposed to reality.

Marilyn

Women, Life, Freedom

Viviane

Tinker Bell

Ariel

A female of Iranian descent now living in Turkey, it’s fitting Deniz’s work, which has always showcased inequalities and celebrated the strength of women, now can be seen through a different lens against the backdrop.

Now the juxtaposition of these women pretending to be a cartoon mouse, or Disney princesses flipping us off, speaks to the frustration of an entire region towards an archaic idealogy where women are forced to dress up and cater to the will of a male-dominated regime. These images are comical compared to the dire realities in Iran where improper clothing results in murder.

Up against the realities of life and giant corporations promising a way to recapture the magic of childhood naivety, could you blame anyone who would want to turn off their brain and escape? We all strive for an easier, light and carefree life but sometimes we must first sit with harsh truths to resolve them, rather than seek avoidance, and listen to artists like Deniz Izadi.