An exhibition in Munich is showcasing handmade artwork and writing by women jailed in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison where political prisoners are held.
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Handmade dolls, leather bags, wooden frames, paintings, hand-knit carpets and many other objects tell the stories of women whose creativity reached beyond the walls of Evin Prison – reflecting both their courage to resist and their hope for a life of freedom for everyone in Iran. Amid the ongoing war with the US, the regime is only cracking down harder on the political opposition.
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This hand-knit carpet was made by anthropology student Leila Hosseinzadeh. She chose as its motif the dance of Khodanour Lajai, a young man from Sistan and Baluchestan who became a symbol of the 2022 protests. Despite poverty and repression, he was remembered on social media for his joy of life, music and dancing.
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Journalist and activist Vida Rabbani painted a view of the prison courtyard, filled with plants and flowers, while she was imprisoned. For her, looking out onto the courtyard became a window onto life. Rabbani has been imprisoned several times. Activists, journalists, and academics are held by Iran’s regime in Evin Prison. Reports have documented torture and human rights abuses.
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Vida Rabbani joined the exhibition’s opening ceremony via video link after her application for a German visa was rejected. For Rabbani, the courtyard was more than an ordinary prison yard. “It was part of the memory of Iranian women’s struggle for freedom and part of our collective memory,” she said. The courtyard was destroyed during an Israeli attack on Evin Prison this year.
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Brigitte Erbe, managing director of the Munich Women’s Academy, said “The Munich Women’s Academy itself emerged from the second German women’s movement. Our goal is to empower women and make their voices heard.”
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In 2022, protests erupted across Iran after a young woman died in police custody for not wearing a hijab. The incident sparked “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. The exhibition features movement’s posters. “With these, we want to symbolically show the connection between resistance inside the prison and the streets, where the protests have taken place,” said co-curator Parastou Forouhar.
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Mansoureh Shojaee, one of the exhibition’s two curators, collected the handmade works from Evin and brought them to Europe. Shojaee was also one of the founders of the Museum of the Women’s Movement in Iran in 2009. After numerous women’s rights activists left Iran, the museum’s work continued in exile as a traveling exhibition.
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Iran’s ruling regime jails human rights activists, journalists and academics in Tehran’s Evin Prison, where rights groups have documented torture and other human rights abuses.
The exhibition “From Evin, with Love” presents handmade artworks created by female political prisoners in Evin the past decade. The exhibition is a project from the Museum of the Women’s Movement in Iran and is now being shown in Europe for the second time.
