Identifying the components of exercising power in Safavid Persian Garden Paintings

Iranian painting is one of the visual arts in which the language of writing and shapes are combined to introduce and convey the ideology and aspirations of the Safavid kings as a propaganda, symbolic and encrypted medium. The traditional practices of the Persian garden and the representation of Safavid ideology are purposefully represented in the paintings. This art deals with social and political contexts, the presence of human agents and the role of artists in the production of text in order to make it more impact and influential on the audience, on the other hand, it indirectly reflects social criticisms and discrimination. The aim of the present study is to identify the elements of power in the expression of ideology and media discourse in Safavid visual works using the approach of Fairclough critical discourse analysis. This research seeks to represent the main and marginal themes in garden drawings to answer the questions: What discourses do the social and cultural components of garden paintings address?  And how are ideological concepts represented in garden paintings as a powerful medium? This research has been done with the approach of Fairclough critical discourse analysis, in a descriptive-analytical manner and qualitative content.The results show: The ideology of the Safavid kings has dealt with symbols and signs of natural and ancient elements in three levels of description, interpretation and explanation. This has been done through the use of cultural hegemony, absolute imperial power, and finally, it has been made available to the audience through the language of shapes. In Fairclough 's critical discourse analysis approach, garden paintings have acted as a mass and effective medium. These visual works have critically addressed various discourses and religious, national, political, mythological and news concepts of the Safavid period. The discourses formed in the garden paintings have dealt with the Power discourse, the network discourse, the discourse of perfectionism, the discourse of traditionalism, the media discourse, the military-mythological discourse, the national-symbolic discourse. These discourses have led to the identification of the long-term goals of the Safavid rulers in social and political development and progress. The ruling system in this historical period has caused Safavid artists to use a variety of formed views and discourses to depict the Iranian garden in the field of power along with the separation of social spaces of the upper and lower classes of society. During this period, the art of gardening and landscaping of the Safavids has become a multifaceted and media visual network. This news media covers the attitude of the Safavid kings in order to legitimize their monarchy and express religious, cultural and political views in the heart of society. These visual media had become a powerful tool for expressing the Safavid ideology, art and industry. Safavid artists in garden paintings have dealt with traditional and ethnic arts, religious-identity and historical teachings to advance the main role of ideology and its function in the context of society. On the other hand, these artists have taken a realistic look at identifying the class divide and moving the lower classes of society away from the space of modernity, and have covertly and cryptically made it the target of their assessment of the class structure of power.