At recent red carpet events, from a premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City in March to last week's Vogue World: London 2023 at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, actor and producer Nicole Ansari-Cox, the wife of "Succession" star Brian Cox and of half-Iranian descent, made a powerful statement in support of women's rights in Iran.
She often adorned her attire with a sash bearing the words "Woman Life Freedom." This slogan emerged last year during the protests that erupted following the tragic death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while in custody.
Mahsa had been detained by the Gasht-e Ershad, the "morality police," for wearing her hijab 'improperly,' thus violating the dress code for women.
The protests, primarily centered on women's rights in Iran and opposing the mandatory hijab enforced by the theocratic regime, spread to various cities within the country and received support from around the world. Many powerful images and videos showed women cutting off their hair as a symbol of mourning and protest, a gesture deeply rooted in Iranian literature.
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Mahsa's tragic death, and various events were organized in different countries to commemorate the occasion.
Iranian-born American-British artist Koushna Navabi founded "Artists for Woman Life Freedom," an initiative aimed at raising awareness of the brave women in Iran fighting for basic human rights against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Navabi's artistic practice spans sculpture, installation, and painting, with a focus on textiles. Her use of "feminine" techniques explores the intersection of the personal and socio-political in an expressively ironic manner, drawing heavily from cultural myths surrounding Orientalism and gender identity. Her work intertwines sexuality with politics, and is often tinged with a horror nuance. Navabi frequently combines textile media in her works, including traditional Persian kilims, with sculpted or found objects. Her craft techniques reference folkloric primitivism and also look at the theme of alienation.
As part of the "Artists for Woman Life Freedom" campaign, Navabi and fellow artists Anahita Razmi, Abbas Zahedi and Hadi Falapishi all created a series of posters that will be exhibited in public spaces across the UK, Dublin and Paris over the coming months.
The posters are accompanied by events and film screenings hosted by local art institutions which focus on the ongoing struggle for women's rights in Iran.
The project launched in Paris with a day of art, activism, and reflection, including talks and screenings by artists such as Navabi and Mina Keshavarz at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris and films by Mina Keshavarz Keshavarz and Pegah Ahangarani at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, events followed by a night march through the city.
Mina Keshavarz's documentary, "The Art of Living in Danger," follows a group of women advocating for change, transforming from a personal narrative into something much greater. Keshavarz's story is dedicated to her grandmother, Nurijan, whom she never had the chance to meet. Nurijan died before the revolution, while Mina was born after its conclusion. It is only later in the film that the family's decades-long silence regarding her grandmother's tragic tale begins to make sense. Simultaneously, the documentary sheds light on the efforts of women's rights activists who have dedicated years to drafting a comprehensive bill that would establish equal treatment as a fundamental right in their country. These activists have collected numerous poignant accounts of oppressed women and the film evolves into a testament of how Iranian women persistently strive for legal protection, showcasing their unwavering commitment to the cause.
In her film "I Am Trying to Remember" Pegah Ahangarani uses instead photographs, videos, and vivid recollections from her own childhood to evoke a collective memory of the Iranian revolution. Ahangarani tells a story from her childhood and of beloved family friend Gholam who disappeared after the revolution and whose images were erased in family albums, a fate shared by many individuals, political prisoners executed and buried in unmarked grass graves in 1988, ten years after the Islamic revolution.
Throughout September, the poster artworks will be displayed on billboards across Edinburgh and exhibited on the exteriors of The Maison Européenne de la Photographie and the Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Additional UK and Dublin-based galleries and museums participating in the campaign will be announced in the coming months, with more posters displayed in public locations in various cities. Hopefully, we will see these posters spreading throughout Europe, because while we should be showing the brave Iranian women our support, in turn they can be inspiring for us and give us the strength to fight against gender-based violence and femicides.
Koushna Navabi, stated in an official press release about "Artists for Woman Life Freedom": "I believe it's crucial to harness the impactful voices of artists in the public sphere to amplify awareness and support for the ongoing women's-led revolution in Iran. We are awed by the bravery of Iranian youth who have made sacrifices and still face peril while striving for freedom. This revolution resonates at the heart of society and has the potential to transcend Iran's borders, in its neighbouring countries, giving rise to a wider movement against injustice."
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