Speaking at the opening ceremony, Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai, the secretary of the exhibition, said that a selection of 72 works by 45 Iranian and international artists from 27 countries have been put on view.

He added that the organizers decided to hold the exhibit after the police killing of an unarmed African-American man named George Floyd.

“The incident drew nationwide protests and an international campaign named ‘I Can’t Breathe’ was launched to show protests against racism,” he added.

The book containing the displayed collection was also unveiled at the opening ceremony. 

Art Bureau director Mohsen Momeni-Sharif, and writers Mohammadreza Sangari and Mojtaba Rahmandoost were among the invited guests at the opening ceremony. 

George Floyd died on May 25 after being pinned down under the knee of a white officer for 9 minutes despite yelling, “I can’t breathe”.

Floyd’s death has sparked protests nationwide and around the world, engulfing city streets with tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Many of the demonstrators who converged on the U.S. Capitol were young Blacks in their twenties who as an expression of outrage over Floyd’s death felt compelled to march in the streets for the first time.

The U.S. has been rocked by demonstrations over police slayings of unarmed Black men, women and youth over the past decade. 

The demonstrators say they have been driven to protest after seeing too many videos and hearing too many stories about Black Americans dying at the hands of police officers, and by their concerns about the future of the country itself.