The twenty fourth “Rural Art Festival” was held in “Lima” village in Gilan province in 6 of August 2010.

2000 meters hight above sea level, in the town of “Rahim Abad” we reached to a village that surprised all the members of Hajme Sabz artistic group. This surprise was not just because of the beautiful views but also the village’s unique kind of architecture and culture that the group has rarely seen before.

The first thing which attracted our attention was some houses called “verjini” which were made of wood and mud and stone during past times; however nowadays they don’t use mud in the buildings anymore and it has been replaced by new modern materials such as iron . Although the new houses are made of modern materials, some old houses still have preserved their architecture.

The survival of women art in this village made the group happy. Wool socks, scarves, wool pants and hats are among the village’s handcrafts and in the cold nights of winter the spinning machines work from the sun set till the sun rise.

There was no wall to separate the houses; as if all the people were living in one big house together. There was no lock for the village’s shop and all around us were full of people who wanted to invite us kindly just as nearest relatives.

The bride’s cloth in this village is covered with beautiful red flowers which make them more beautiful. More than 12 meters of fabric is used for making this cloth.

Mr.Amirpour had glued the festival’s poster on the wall of the ally and on the only store of the village.

Theses empty bottles of water (as the symbol of useless waste) were colored by Malihe Jahangiri and other members of group. Children and women of the village signed them and at the end we hanged them on the trees as memorials.

At the beginning of the festival Hosein Ravanbakhsh, the invited artist, gathered the children and their families and spoke for them about the festival and its kind performance.

The village’s children experienced the brush and gouache for the first time and it was very attractive for them and its effects could be clearly seen in their paintings.

Hajme sabz artistic group invited not only the children but also their families for painting. Among the women we could find some like Mokarrame Qanbari who were full of emotion and life.

The common arrangement of stone fish with the handwritings of villagers was done by Hamed Mashmuli and Vahid Chinian.

The children of Hajme Sabz2 institute (the other branch of Hajme Sabz) with the management of Mrs. Rahimpouer and Miss Fallah had sent some beautiful masks for this village’s children. They had made these masks by their own hands and had written their names on them and even their telephone numbers to have contact with them.

Special thanks to Mr.Amirpour and his family and Mr.Hasanpour the council of
“lima” village.

And also thanks to “Alvan” color company and” Khorram” brush company that were the sponsers of this festival.

Mr.Ravanbakhsh and Mr.Nemat nejad

Hajme Sabz artistic group members in this festival:

Jalaledin Mashmuli, Sahar Alinejad,Hamed Mashmuli,Somayeh Zamani, Farzaneh Fazeli, Mahdiye Jahangiri,Malihe Jahangiri, Vahid Chinian, Khadije Fallah, Mahbube Arabali, Niloofar Salehi, Ayda Khoshnejad.hossein ravanbakhsh . mehdi nemati nejad

The group photographer:

Farzaneh Fazeli, Somayeh Zamani

Cameraman:

Niloofar Salehi