Japanese World Cup awards Iran artists

Iranian artists’ paintings have won several awards at the 2021 edition of the Paralym Art World Cup in Japan.

Organized in Nakama for artists with disabilities, the theme of the event was ‘Smile’.

Iranian artist Marzieh Houshmand’s paintings ‘World’s Smile’ won the grand prix. ‘World’s Smile’ depicts a black boy sitting on the globe creating bubbles with smiling faces.

‘Vaccine’ by Ali Bahrami from Iran received the Kushino Nobumasa Award, and Marzieh Baqeri-Chizeh won a Paralymart Award for her painting ‘Embroidered Art’.

Hossein Divsalar, the Iranian cultural attaché in Tokyo, received the awards on behalf of the Iranian artists in a special ceremony attended by Nakama Mayor Kenji Fukuda and representatives of organizations sponsoring the competition.

Sonu Gupta from India was honored with Koei Tecmo Holdings Award for the painting ‘Smile’, while the Kaltec Award was presented to ‘Triumph of Mankind’ by Ryoute Fujiyu from Japan.

‘Smile of Peace’ by Tajiri Hajime and ‘The Joy of Life’ by Yagi Hidetomo, both from Japan, were picked as the runners-up.

The Park Hotel Tokyo Award went to ‘Mixture of Cultures’ by Eduardo Boyd from Panama, while the Tao Keiichiro Award was given to ‘Smiles in Various Landscapes’ by Tsuchida Manabu from Japan.

The Persol Award went to ‘Dancing in the Rainbow’ by Marium Kashif from the UAE, and ‘Shower of Smiles’ by Mine Megumi from Japan received the Tokairika Award.

The Paralymart Awards went to Harumaru’s ‘A Love Letter from Outer Space: Do You Love the Earth?’ and Katoh Takehiro’s ‘Who Will Make Me Smile?, both from Japan, as well as Ansari’s ‘Smile’ and Chetan Pashilkar’s ‘Smile’, both from India.

MG/AG