To ensure the safety of the participants of the project, they cannot be identified in a public forum such as a website. However, to honour their creative efforts, we have taken images of their hands, in poses that were decided by the artists.
Double click on an image and it will pull up a slideshow. You can drag the cursor over an image to see text describing the image, written by the artist.
I am a part of this project because I am a woman and a mother of two sons. I left my homeland and came here with my husband because of political reasons.
I am an ex-political prisoner with a lot of pain.I still feel like I live in prison; just a bigger one, with billions of cell mates. I am tired of being quiet and I want to break my silence by talking about all my cell mates.
When the doors are locked, we need the key. On the path to find it, I have reached a dead end so many times until I was able to understand its significance in my life. However long this path; darkness will not overcome us.
I’m here because I believe in my freedom; freedom to write, to speak, and to be a female. I have never been punished because I am a female in Canada, but in my country I was. I am here because one day I want to be the change in the world. I want to change the unreasonable policies that my government imposes on women. I believe that knowledge is power and that is why I am here!
I am here because I want to be a part of this project. I am here because I am a human rights activist and painter. I am new in Canada. I have been here for 4 months.
I am an ex-political prisoner and I am here to support all the political prisoners. The wrong doings of the Islamic republic was not shocking for me, as I knew their inhumane thoughts and cruel actions. I knew well the behaviours they justified as being Godly. This is a God that doesn’t understand love and is so selfish that he wants all humanity to take a bow in front of his greatness. He doesn’t love, He hates. He creates only to kill later; with torture and violence. My hands in the picture is a symbol for the executions of 1988. The guards told each other that after the executions were done, they still couldn’t open the prisoner’s hands that were knotted together. The works you see here depict the pain and sufferings of all the prisoners.
My presence here is a call out on behalf of all the people who unjustly silenced their screams. Although they loved life dearly, they sacrificed their being for their hopes and dreams.
I am a woman and I am a mother who wants to change the world. I am tired of the corrupted world. I’d like to leave and go to a place without prison, without war, and discrimination. I want freedom and equality for all.
I am an ex-political prisoner and a member of a victim’s family. I am here to help make a narrative that is in favour of all the victims.
I am an Iranian woman who is here to support this project. I want to raise awareness about the violence and the atrocities that have been going on in Iran over the past 30 years.
I am a man. I am a father. I am here to support all my friends, who have suffered. I am here to put an end to the mass murders and executions.
I am a woman and an ex-political prisoner. I am here because I want to put an end to the dark situation in Iran. I am here because I care about the people in Iran.
I am here as an ex-political prisoner. I want to testify to the cruelty of prison, torture, and execution. Art is the true testimony of this cruelty and the only way to cure it.
I am a human and a humanitarian. I was a victim of the cold war without even knowing it before I was born. I was brainwashed over and over again for many years but I broke out of my intellectual prison. I am a survivor and an overcomer!
One of the best parts of my life is living with my comrades in prison. All of us had only one dream: freedom and equality for all. This project is very useful in making all Canadians aware of the situation of women in Iran.