Early one morning in Tehran, Elham Issari answered an urgent phone call that offered an unexpectedly precious commodity. An acquaintance excitedly told her about a single tube of white paint he had managed to secure. Because that individual tube would have cost about five million tomans, roughly thirty-six dollars, Issari initially balked at the price. Hours later, at four in the morning, she found herself watching YouTube tutorials on how to manufacture lead white pigment in a backyard without risking poisoning. She recalls. “I was like, I don’t think so, because that’s overpriced, and the next thing you know is it’s 4am and I’m on YouTube watching how to make lead white in your backyard without getting lead poisoning.”, the tube of white paint would have cost Issari 5m tomans (about $36).
That incident reflects the harsh daily reality for creators across Iran. Following joint airstrikes and military operations launched on February 28 by the United States and Israel, alongside intense economic pressure, thousands of visual artists have entered deep professional and financial uncertainty. The sudden escalation shuttered commercial galleries in central Tehran, forced the cancellation of planned solo exhibitions, severed vital shipping routes, and eroded the domestic market that traditionally sustained local creators.
Out of this systemic disruption emerged Continuum: Artist Relief for Iran, an initiative designed to connect contemporary artists living inside the country with global buyers. The project was founded by Dario Duran, a 38-year-old Canadian-Iranian curator who heads Duran Art Projects. Duran, who holds degrees in photography, art history, and curatorial studies, was visiting family in Shiraz when the war broke out. As heavy daily bombardment struck the city, Duran and his visiting parents from Canada were forced to flee northward. Driven by nostalgia and a desire to connect with his heritage, he moved to Iran, where he fell in love with the dynamism of the domestic art scene, six years ago. Where it was relatively quiet.”, we went by ground to the north of the country. What had originally been planned as a modest PDF catalogue featuring a dozen imperilled acquaintances rapidly transformed into a nationwide initiative.
In northern Iran, Duran encountered numerous other displaced cultural workers who had escaped heavily bombed urban hubs like Tehran and Isfahan. He joined forces there with Mariam Rasti, co-founder of Duran Art Projects. Maintaining constant communication with creators across the country, the curators realized that artists were losing hope faster than ever before. With exhibitions cancelled and galleries shut, many faced immediate destitution. One creator listed paintbrushes and tubes on the classifieds site Divar simply to survive, while another considered abandoning art entirely to work in a coffee shop. If you want it, you have to buy it right now because there’s this other guy in this other city who wants it and you have to tell me within the next five minutes.”, it’s overpriced and I know it’s overpriced but. Typically, an artist works for one or two years to prepare a body of work, relying on a single gallery showcase to generate enough sales to survive for the next two years.
Recognizing that standard curatorial concerns like archiving and exhibition-making were secondary to basic survival, Duran bought mobile data access and used WhatsApp to reach out to international patrons. He drafted an open letter to global collectors, prompting an immediate and overwhelming response from gallerists and curators in cities such as London, New York, Paris, Dubai, Toronto, and Mumbai. Over five months of intensive development, Duran, Rasti, and a coalition of domestic galleries built the Continuum digital platform, which now hosts more than 500 original artworks by over 200 contemporary creators living in Iran. Exhibition making, curation, archiving – these things do not matter, duran says: “We realised that at this moment. Determined to make a difference, Duran bought a couple of gigabytes of internet access so he could get on WhatsApp.
To maximize financial support, eleven commercial galleries across Iran agreed to waive one hundred percent of their sales commissions, while Duran Art Projects charges no platform fees, ensuring that every penny from completed sales goes directly to the creator. To accommodate international purchasers during economic hardships, prices are divided into three tiers: up to 500 dollars, 500 to 2,500 dollars, and 2,500 to 5,000 dollars. In a currency-devalued economy, a single 500-dollar sale can cover studio rent or necessary pigment purchases.
The behind-the-scenes logistics require constant navigation of complex international sanctions. Initially, the platform relied on domestic courier services to fly packages from Tehran to transit hubs in Dubai and Istanbul. When flight connections through the United Arab Emirates faced cancellations, logistical partners adapted by routing shipments through alternative regional networks. Although buyers are advised that deliveries may take between three and six months, international collectors continue to acquire pieces ranging from minimalist photography and delicate line drawings to abstract canvases.
For Duran, the humanitarian toll of economic sanctions remains profound, as they disproportionately penalize ordinary citizens rather than altering political trajectories. Amid these hardships, artists like 43-year-old Mehrdad Jafari continue working despite immense personal strain. Raised in Mazandaran by a family of sculptors and painters, Jafari views his practice as inseparable from his existence, stating that he must continue his work until the end of his life.
For other creators, the psychological toll of the conflict has been severe. Issari describes hearing multiple explosions daily, gathering her cats, running to safe spaces, and counting to ten. The trauma left her unable to paint initially, her hands shaking too violently to hold a brush. While she hopes her contributions to Continuum will find international homes, she emphasizes that the platform’s greatest value is emotional validation, providing the vital sensation of being truly seen by the world even if a piece remains unsold.
