TEHRAN – Kaveh Timouri, a calligrapher and student of sociology, does not approach Iran as a mere geographic entity. He approaches it as a social capital.
In an interview with IRNA, Timouri discussed his exhibition “Line of the Homeland” (Khatte Vatan), on view at the Azadi Tower cultural and artistic complex. The show, which opened on April 21, features approximately forty calligraphy works illuminated by Raf’at Mousavi. All are centered on a single concept: Iran.
“I consider the concept of Iran to be a social capital,” Timouri said. “This social capital does not have an individual aspect. It has a national and global aspect, and most importantly, a historical dimension. When we speak of today’s Iran, the glory of three thousand years of history comes behind this matter.”
Timouri, who has held exhibitions in Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Netherlands, grounds his calligraphy in classical and contemporary Persian poetry. He cites Sanjar Kashani, an early poet: “Strike a melody upon Iran’s voice / Strike a familiar melody of homeland.” 
He also invokes contemporary poet Sara Jelodaran: “Red-breasted green white poplar / You are the ancient flag of my battlefield / Good mother of the ancient Persian Gulf / You are the Caspian sky and the blue of Oman.”
Timouri makes a claim for the script itself. “Nastaliq script is Iran’s
 birth certificate,” he stated. “Iran’s art is associated with Nastaliq script. The concept of Iran, the motherland, is complex, and Nastaliq script is also complex. To write a single ‘alef’ correctly, you must bend it like a ‘dal.’”
He draws a parallel between the nation and the calligraphic tradition. “Iran has remained standing for three thousand years. Like a phoenix, it always rises. Nastaliq script is the same.”
The exhibition is the fruit of six years of labor. Timouri noted that some works were created as early as 2020, well before the recent conflict. When asked whether the current war has increased his expressions of Iranophilia, he rejected the premise.
“No, the works have a history,” he said. “The concept of Iran, as a subject, is intertwined with our existence and has no bound of place or time.”
Timouri believes that both the Iranian people and Iranian art owe a debt to the country. “We have been negligent in making today’s generation stick to the concept of Iran,” he said. “We must change our attitude. We owe Iran. Art owes Iran. And the most excellent language for safeguarding the values of our country, Greater Iran, is art.”
He concluded that calligraphy, as an identity-creating art, is his chosen medium for this debt. “Line of the Homeland” continues at the Azadi Tower complex.