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Artist Takes A Critical Look At Modern Society And Calls Attention To Problems In Today’s World With His Thought-Provoking Illustrations (30 New Pics)
40-year-old Alireza Pakdel is a cartoonist, illustrator, and art director from Iran. His work mostly explores and revolves around various problems that are dominant in our modern-day society, reminding us of important things that we might overlook when it comes to our everyday lives.
However, of course, it's definitely not the first time we have mentioned the said artist’s work on Bored Panda. Over the last year, Pakdel’s work has been featured quite a few times on our site. If you are as curious as we are, you can go ahead and do your very best checking out Alireza’s other themed works such as part 1 of illustrations that expose today’s society and his digital artworks that show the harsh reality of doctors during the coronavirus outbreak.
More info: Instagram | Facebook
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#1
Cassie Ward-Renshaw 4 years ago
This makes me so sad especially the facemask 😭 i clean the beach and a grass verge twice a week because it upsets me how much litter there is, theres so much i cant get it all! Especially facemasks and gloves lately. Please please if everyone throws there litter, facemasks & gloves in a bin when your finished and if youre able to, help clean beaches, youd be making an amazing difference! 🐋🐢💕
With his illustrations, Pakdel tries to address everyday situations that often go unnoticed by most people. In a world where topics such as capitalism, consumerism, racism, and even pollution caused by human actions are very relevant themes, Alireza often tries to spread awareness and explore these topics in his works.
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#2
denzoren 4 years ago
We keep depleting our resources....and we're not valuing what we have already.
Grumble O'Pug 4 years ago
Despite the marketing: timber industry isn’t sustainable.
Load More Replies... Hutt'nKloas 4 years ago
The new green approach: Biomass as fuel installed by the green deal really sux.
#3
Pantea 4 years ago (edited)
This needs to be higher as it shows a tragedy many people in the West are unaware of: in Iran, women are not allowed to sing or play instruments in public. There were many cases where a wellknown (male) singer had women in his orchestra and just before the concert started, women were forced to leave the stage. This reminds me of a heartbreaking photo of a female musician peeping through the curtain with sad eyes to see how her fellow male musicians are perfrming.
LeiLah 4 years ago
Thank you! I came to the comments bc I didn't know. I'm glad I did. Although, my heart is further broken with another example of humanity keeping us woman down.
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When you think about it, it's incredible how much information people have at their fingertips when they surf the internet. You could consider yourself the pilot of your own journey as you glide across whatever you find in the digital cosmos. So seeing Alireza’s mindful illustrations surface across social media truly sets a good reflection of the world’s current situation. His work carries a powerful and meaningful message that can be understood without the need for words.
#4
Hutt'nKloas 4 years ago
@ Adam : History shows always leads to a vicious circle. It's not the rich but human by nature. Power corrupts.
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Amy Jo Buchanan 4 years ago
And the saddest thing is, the rich man and his spoiled kitty won't even eat everything on that table. There could be plenty for all of them,if only he would stop and think about it and decide to share it....this is just one thing out of many, that is what's wrong with so much of the world.
Flavia Slag 4 years ago
Understand this. Many homeless are there because of mental or drug problems. Husband worked with the homeless. So no it's not the rich and it's not the uncaring MOST of the time.
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Pantea 4 years ago (edited)
For context, this is an Iranian carpet weaver (the artist is Iranian). The expensive, luxurious Persian carpets are mostly made by women. They spend a year or two to make an avarage sized carpet. They sell it for a fraction of what the end customer will pay. If they're lucky, they can live a poor life for another year to make the next carpet. Even this little earnings are taken away by cheap China products.
Weny 4 years ago
All you pathetic (Americans probably) are complaining about the fact that its hard to find something that is not made in China. Do you even know why? Its because manufacturing cost and labor is cheaper there. Not one American would work for Chinese wages. By the way, your prized apple Iphones are mostly assembled in Shenzan, China.
Tara 4 years ago
Omg this reminds me of the carpet schools I busted in Egypt! The front is a huge sales room filled with tons of beautiful carpets. The back is room full of looms with little girls working on them. The owner explained it as basically a charity- that these carpets are financing the girls' education that they wouldn't otherwise get. That they spend half the day in school and half making carpets?? And apparently only little hands can make the tiny knots on these particular designs... Just one of these would literally take a girl probably 5 years so is their showroom full of Chinese machine-made carpets or is this a sweatshop fronting as a charity? So many unanswered questions!
Sallai Margó 2 years ago
This shows the unlimited appetite for money of the owners. - Ez a tulajdonosok határtalan pénzvágyát mutatja.
Sallai Margó 2 years ago
Ez a tulajdonosok határtalan pénzvágyát mutatja. - This shows the unlimited appetite for money of the owners
With that being said, we believe it's wildly interesting to listen to how some people reflect on their own lives or recount the past. The power of sentimentality, memory, and nostalgia that comes along with it is a powerful experience. The characters portrayed in Pakdel’s works convey all kinds of feelings and appeal to surreal, imaginary situations that reflect on today’s world, both past, present, and future.
#6
Amy Jo Buchanan 4 years ago
I see it as an old man giving away a part of himself, such as his time,attention, love, wisdom and knowledge....to fill a missing piece in someone else. But also yes organ donors save many lives and drastically improve the quality of many reciepents' lives!!
#7
Emo Sloth 4 years ago
You can downvote me but I don't really get what this picture is about. Is it to spread awareness for poaching or something?
Sheila Harper 4 years ago
The man took the trap for the elephant ... his boot is in the trap and the elephant is assisting him in response.
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All in all, It's up to you to decide, Pandas! Choose your favorite works amongst them all and explain to us in the comments why you chose them. We dare you to try to appreciate all of the different aspects of these images without being hypnotized. Which topics do you think should be more relevant?
#8
Amy Jo Buchanan 4 years ago
Yes I was thinking that it probably was an extension or reflection of what she really wishes for.
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Andy Flyer 4 years ago (edited)
He'll be fine. I was helping my dad when everyone else was playing. It only taught me discipline.
Lovin' Life 4 years ago
May depict how poor families spend time together vs how the wealthy spend time together
#10
Sordatos Cáceres 4 years ago
Eh, even poors kids also want toys, is part of being a child
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Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
"Going vegan would end world hunger! We are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people, but 80 % of our grain is fed to live"stock" - Nature Journal ....... so you could gobble up the flesh of more than one million unconscionably tortured and murdered animals.
Kalvin Herold 4 years ago
Also wherher you like pornography.. Acting ... Art.... Science or dictatorships... There are virtues to be up held.... In todays world many people are missing ethics belief .. Logical wisdom.... And morality to awareness of environment .... Like i said to EMOJI. Its a magical world.... Sensuality is still a component to ethics.. Yet is demoralization?
Kalvin Herold 4 years ago
By that I mean we saved middle eastern by exploiting them?????????? Im all for saving a young or even old man or woman... Little boy or girl fromm being killed for want to correctly express them selves even if its video taped sex.. Yet Its obvious this is speaking about the double edge dagger of stranger kind thought to belittle prominent minds of generations... Are. their souls free... Im vegan and if i dont want to eat bc iove many creatures maybe them all.... Yet Id kill bc of my beliefs... Islam should be respected as well bc if there is a problem with religion and culture only those who are truly caring can sort it out.... This work speaks do we even care about ourselves... Whats on the table
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Pantea 4 years ago (edited)
I think this needs explaining as well. In Iran (the artist is Iranian), politicians pretend to live modest lives, while gathering wealth on the back of the poor. The camera shows what they want the public to see (on state controlled media) and behind the camera we see their actual life style.
Kalvin Herold 4 years ago
Yhere feast to highlight those of balance...... Are they so composed???
#12
Colin L 4 years ago
Companies decided decades ago to switch to plastic packaging because it was cheaper for them to produce. They then shifted the blame onto consumers for "littering".
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
This is not so clear cut. Plastic packaging is lighter, so it has reduced the carbon emissions from food and drink transport drastically. Plastic packaging also preserves food and drink for much longer than most alternative packaging, which again has meant a much reduced carbon footprint from food wastage and spoilage.
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#13
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Thank you, all animals are my favorite animals.
Load More Replies... Evie Grove 4 years ago
Yes. We should move aside factories and cut down on pollution. SAVE THE ANIMALS!
Amy Jo Buchanan 4 years ago
Make way for the most precious and INNOCENT lives on this miserable Earth!
#14
Carmen Sandiego 4 years ago (edited)
Be like the dogs. But don't lick each other when you first meet them, that's just weird.
ოთო მეტრეველი 4 years ago (edited)
i think its about illegal dog figts where one of tham must die and the winner is sold for higher price ... but your half right
Load More Replies... Evie Grove 4 years ago
Dog fighting is terrible. The dogs don’t want to fight, their forced to.
#15
Cassie Ward-Renshaw 4 years ago
Is there drought where flamingos live??? 😢 can we do anything to help? i love flamingos!
Pantea 4 years ago (edited)
The tears build the map of Iran 😢 Flamingos are imigratory birds and many of them spend the winters in south of Iran. They die now of botulism in dried "Bakhtegan" lagoon, Fars province. Botulism is a deadly disease caused by toxin. The toxin is produced by lack of oxygen in sea water that is drying out. The remaining algae use up the oxygen and cause botulism in birds. The lagoon is drying out because the water of rivers is guided to farming land.
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Greta Salzman 4 years ago
I feel the same way. People kill wolves even though wolves are a major keystone species, kill for food not for sport, less than 2% of livestock killings is from wolves, and they rarely pose a threat to humans. They are my favorite animal and I wish people would understand they are no animal to kill. Plus they created dogs AND WE ALL LOVE DOGS!!!!!!!
Pantea 4 years ago
The tears build the map of Iran 😢 Flamingos are imigratory birds and many of them spend the winters in south of Iran. They die now of botulism in dried "Bakhtegan" lagoon, Fars province. Botulism is a deadly disease caused by toxin. The toxin is produced by lack of oxygen in sea water that is drying out. The remaining algae use up the oxygen and cause botulism in birds. The lagoon is drying out because the water of rivers is guided to farming land.
#16
#17
denzoren 4 years ago
Oh no. We truly are a horrible species to watch others suffer and do nothing.
Shelp 4 years ago
Not really, most species do. The main difference is that we know that we could do something to help them, but actively chose not to.
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Taco Da Guinea Pig 4 years ago
We are a horrible species because of animal testing, poaching, the fact that we have killed off hundreds of species, puppy mills, animal abandoning, and being just all around selfish when others need our help.
Sordatos Cáceres 4 years ago
Without animal testing there couldn't be any medicine or new therapies
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#19
#20
Luna Matter 4 years ago
you know it is so ironic that most kids or adults even, loath certain things (like vegetables, doctor appointments, or school to list a few), while lots of people would love to be able to eat vegetables, go to the doctor, or go to school.
#21
#22
Virgil Blue 4 years ago
In some countrys teachers end up in jail if they dont tow the line. I think this is a reference.
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Lori Meed 4 years ago
Could this be those who are speaking out against the regime, perhaps teachers, speaking from prison? I know that the regime silences and imprisons it's detractors.
Helmut Kok 4 years ago (edited)
‘Schools serve the same social functions as prisons and mental institutions- to define, classify, control, and regulate people." Michel Foucault
Luna Matter 4 years ago
I agree to what you are saying to some extent, however I do believe that school is necessary
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Brîndușa 4 years ago
Nope, this is not the point, sorry.Read Virgil and Pantea's comments. ❤️
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#23
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Stop the massacre of nature. Replant and replace....but where? The land was destroyed, the forests were cut down or burned to make space for pastures for "food" animals so "people" could gobble up more than one million of animals every single hour.
Load More Replies... #24
Shelp 4 years ago
I feel like this cartoon is referring to a probably horrible story I don't know...
Henry Cheves 4 years ago
Safadasht zoo is an Iranian zoo that horribly mistreated and killed a zebra. You can research it if you want to know more. I don't.
Load More Replies... Taco Da Guinea Pig 4 years ago
I think it’s signifying how animals shouldn’t be kept in zoos...?
Evie Grove 4 years ago
Some zoos take animals out of the wild for our entertainment, but some places like the raptor center in my area, only keep birds that cannot live in the wild.
Laurie Laidley 4 years ago
We're killing the animals by putting them in captivity in zoos and removing them from their natural habitats.
Just a girl in a crazy world 4 years ago
Not everywhere. Some places yes, but not everywhere. The zoo in my area only takes animals with injuries, and they always try their hardest to get the animal back to the wild.
Load More Replies... Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
All religions do not fallow their leaders which they worship, therefore, that is fraudulent worship, which means they themselves are insulting the prophet they "worship". - "There is reward for kindness to every living thing." -- Prophet Muhammad
Load More Replies... #25
Shelp 4 years ago
On the other hand, one single egg is already barely enough for the man who is cooking it
Andrew Gibb 4 years ago
the man cooking doesn't look like he misses many meals
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Christina Uhlir 4 years ago (edited)
What's on your plates, Denise and Doris? I bet it's not free smell.
Load More Replies... #26
Dandelion Patch 4 years ago
Corporate factory farms; they only succeed based on the suffering of the humans and animals that work them
#27
Pantea 4 years ago
The hole in the wall is in the shape of the map of Iran. The picture shows how talented, well educated people leave Iran for a better life and goods produced in other countries are sold to people that could be easily produced there, if the brain drain wouldn't happen.
Philly Bob Squires 4 years ago
Pantea, Thank you for all of your amazing replies! It's interesting (but sad) to know what the artist was getting at.
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#28
Pantea 4 years ago
It is because the artist is showing the situation in Iran, which not many people in other countries are aware of. Iranians understand it easily. The shoe represent the Iranian goverment that drains out the lagoons and seas and the flamingo represents the wild life that is dying because of the wrong decisions.
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Tanya Piker 4 years ago
These drawings require you to use your brain and understand. Can you do that?
#29
#30
Lou Herout 4 years ago
The fat government, tightening it's belt at the expense of killing innocent dogs. This one is so poignant, thanks for all the explanations and links!!
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Yes, it does, Evie: it's humanity whats causing them all.
Load More Replies... Sheila Harper 4 years ago
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-dogs-killing-strays/30119463.html
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Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Coqui Xee, there way too many human kids on this planet.
Load More Replies... #31
Cassie Ward-Renshaw 4 years ago
Why are the birds lakes drying up? A few of these seem to be about that?
Add New Image
What do you think ?
denzoren 4 years ago
We take so much and give back so little. It's sad to know we're so full of greed and anger.
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
.... full of greed and selfishness, ignorance, apathy, arrogance.
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Pantea 4 years ago
These are great cartoons, but people from other countries than Iran need to know the context to understand them. Iranians are fighting a brutal dictatorship, but in the Western media they're shown as a bunch of terrorists that are happy to be ruled by Islamic clerics.
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
As it comes to destruction of nature and cruelty to animals they are international issues, they are where all human misery comes from. The link between cruelty to animals and violence against humans is undeniable!! There never will be human rights, social justice without animal rights, period!!!
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Madam Butterfly 4 years ago
My heart hurts after seeing this post,Humans have let earth down. :(
hasti 4 years ago (edited)
the artist mostly captures the problem that is going on in Iran the lack of money and economy that goverment doesn't provide for families and even takes what is for people for their own selfish reasons but no one could raise their voice in iran properly and got silence or got killed by the goverment force its not done, yet it's not finished goverment has shut down water sources, cuts electricity every few hours a day and execute innocent people in jail. even children are getting killed in the hands of this brutal dictators
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Not many up votes for this particular post. Bored Pandas do not like thought provoking art.... anything.
denzoren 4 years ago
We take so much and give back so little. It's sad to know we're so full of greed and anger.
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
.... full of greed and selfishness, ignorance, apathy, arrogance.
Load More Replies... Pantea 4 years ago
These are great cartoons, but people from other countries than Iran need to know the context to understand them. Iranians are fighting a brutal dictatorship, but in the Western media they're shown as a bunch of terrorists that are happy to be ruled by Islamic clerics.
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
As it comes to destruction of nature and cruelty to animals they are international issues, they are where all human misery comes from. The link between cruelty to animals and violence against humans is undeniable!! There never will be human rights, social justice without animal rights, period!!!
Load More Replies... Madam Butterfly 4 years ago
My heart hurts after seeing this post,Humans have let earth down. :(
hasti 4 years ago (edited)
the artist mostly captures the problem that is going on in Iran the lack of money and economy that goverment doesn't provide for families and even takes what is for people for their own selfish reasons but no one could raise their voice in iran properly and got silence or got killed by the goverment force its not done, yet it's not finished goverment has shut down water sources, cuts electricity every few hours a day and execute innocent people in jail. even children are getting killed in the hands of this brutal dictators
Christina Uhlir 4 years ago
Not many up votes for this particular post. Bored Pandas do not like thought provoking art.... anything.
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