Report: Ahmad Nadalian, RiverArt Photos by Raheleh Zomorodinia, Mithra Soltani, Mohamad Saybani and Ahmad Nadalian. Thanks to Mohamd Saybani, Mohammad Banoj, Tarta Ghodarzi, Raheleh Zomorodinia, Atefeh Khas, Mahmood Maktabi, Shahrnaz Zarkesh and Zahra Shafiabadi. In December 2007, we held an environmental art festival in the Persian Gulf. This festival had no sponsors. The young artists paid for the cost of their trip, food, and supplies they needed to create their art works. In the past two years there has been a great demand for environmental art in Iran. Many young artists from different parts of Iran invite me to be part of different environmental events and realize their art works in nature. They are many and I can not have all of them in one occasion, but I have been pleased to organize different events and respond to this essential need of our society. Environmental art is the art of the future. We can learn how to behave with nature. I wish in the future we could have one environmental art event per day. For the occasion of this festival, my American friend Barbara Roux sent her new poem. I suggested printing her poem on paper and role them, put them inside of plastic bottles available on the coast and leave them in the water of the sea. For me, the idea of having international artists participate or contribute is very important and symbolically could show the willingness and desire of world nations to work together towards peace. In many occasions, mostly during the night, we had performances and dances related to local ritual. Work by Hojat Amani - Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia Collaborative work by Tarta Ghodarzi, Atefeh Khas, Raheleh Zomorodinia, Behrang Abasspour, Hassan Daryapeima, Hesam Al din Mohamadian, Mithra Soltani, Ahmad Nadalian, and artists who made audio - Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia Work by Mohamad Banj and other local artists Young artists also depicted patterns of living creatures that lost their life due to pollution, which was caused by war. Collabrative works by Zohreh Riyahi, Z ohreh Deldadeh- Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia Collaborative work by Tarta Ghodarzi, Atefeh Khas, Zahra Shafiabadi, Mahmood MAktabi, Shahrnaz Zarkesh and Raheleh Zomorodinia Zohreh Deldadeh Work by Shahnaz Zarkesh Zahra Shafiabadi Collaborative work by Tarta Ghodarzi, Atefeh Khas, Raheleh Zomorodinia, Behrang Abasspour, Hassan Daryapeima, Hesam Al din Mohamadian, Mithra Soltani, Ahmad Nadalian, and artists who made audio - Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia Work by Atefeh Khas Work by Maryam Amini During these wars a million gallons of oil released into the Persian Gulf causing the largest oil spill in history. Only in one occasion amount of oil released was categorized as 20 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and twice as large as the previous world record oil spill. Now at least more than 80 ships were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War, many of which carried oil and munitions. In 1999, some 400 to 500 tons of fish died in the Persian Gulf, a problem traced to a lack of oxygen in the water and the growth of phytoplanktons. I continued a project that I started last month (January 2008). In recent years on this island some of the deer died. I used sand stone to make deer feet and printed them on the sand of beach. More Images The oil released into the Persian Gulf produced devastating consequences on the marine wildlife of the area, including the endangered hawksbill and green turtles. Thousands of cormorants (a type of marine bird) died as a result of exposure to oil or polluted water. Many Karan Island green turtles developed lesions. About Ahmad Nadalian Ahmad Nadalian is internationally known as one of the most active environmental artists. He has been supported and sponsored by many different organizations in many countries throughout the world, where he has performed numerous environmental art projects in countries such as; Italy, Germany, USA, UK, Spain, France, China, Netherlands, Greece, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Finland, Lebanon, Syria, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Switzerland, Serbia ....and his homeland Iran. Also he has been invited as a guest lecturer to different universities, organizations and art centers, during his visits he has given talks and workshops on a variety of relevant art issues such as Environmental and Interactive arts He also organized many major environmental art festivals in his native country Iran, and has helped to supervise young environmenta l artists around the globe.

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