Biography

          In this created work, we used Canva to create a photo collage of different struggles around the world (i.e. Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, Uyghurs, Syria, Congo) that connect to the Women, Life, Freedom movement (2022). What connects all these movements to Iran is that each one has art activist pieces that sprouted from their struggles and have similar themes such as censorship and defiance just as the Women, Life, Freedom movement did. Overall, the reason we chose to do this for our creative work is that all of these struggles are still ongoing in the present moment, which is something that we can still promote change and advocate for through this work. 

          Looking at some of the most urgent issues worldwide and comparing them to find similarities between each struggle allows us to see the commonality in art and how it is used for activism on different issues universally. In the course Art Activism In Iran, we discussed how art and performances impact activism throughout the world and this project is a testament to that as it collaborates so many different artworks and visuals from each country's movement, exhibiting how the oppressed use art to resist and protest the abuse of power globally and nationally. For instance, Palestine has used art to actively speak out on the oppression they are experiencing by the settler-colonial state of Israel. Sudan and Congo have used art as a form of resistance in their struggle for independence from foreign-backed rebel groups, exploiting valuable resources from their lands. Afghanistan, Syria, and Uyghurs have used art to defy and subvert extreme regimes that abuse human rights such as the Taliban, Assad regime, and the Chinese government. And lastly, both Lebanon and Yemen are experiencing brutal bombings from the U.S. and Israel, but continue to remain resilient and use art to stand in solidarity with those in Palestine.  

          We met outside of the classroom to bounce ideas back and forth and we decided on 9 countries. When deciding the countries we wanted to add, some of them we already knew such as Palestine, and some of them we found by searching which countries are currently struggling in the fight for liberation. Then we decided how we wanted to format the poster, which was Iran in the center and various struggles branching out since the Women, Life, Freedom movement was our main focus. In the middle of the poster is a photo that represents the abuse of power which is the idea that connects all these issues together. This is because, in each struggle, someone is abusing the power they hold, which has been the main driver for all of these different problems around the globe. For instance, the Chinese government has used its power to enforce forced labor upon Uyghurs, a small Muslim minority in China, just because of their ethnic identity. Moreover, after we planned this out we found art and photos that represent the struggles of that country and added their flags. Finally, we decided to make all the photos and words in circles to show the unity that takes place between all the issues and to add a cohesive design.