‘The first day I was in America, I actually cried. It was so cold’, Armajani
recalled. In the warehouse district of Minneapolis, he set up a modest studio,
where he painted, drew and sculpted. Baba nan darad (Daddy has bread) (1960)
(pp. 30–31) is from a series of works he created that reference the simple sentences used to teach Iranian schoolchildren how to read and write. In classrooms throughout
the country, across generations, young students repeatedly write and recite simple sentences
such as ‘Dad gave bread’ and ‘Mom gave water’. Armajani’s artwork is a play on this exercise of
rote learning, but it is also a moving tribute to his beloved father who had imbued him with a
lifelong passion for poetry, who had given him the confidence to pursue art and from whom he
was now painfully separated.
Armajani filled the background of Baba nan darad with undulating black calligraphy against a
white emptiness. Legible script morphs into obscure markings throughout the work.