ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND: It was on September 16, one year ago, that the world learned of the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd, who lost her life while in the custody of Iran’s “morality” police.
Her alleged violation: not adhering to the country’s Islamic dress code, which requires women to cover their hair. Amini’s death triggered nationwide protests, bringing attention to the harsh realities faced by women in Iran and their fight for freedom.
In November of the same year, Iranian officials admitted that over 300 individuals had died during the demonstrations that followed Amini’s death. However, human rights organizations, including the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, reported that the actual death toll was much higher, surpassing 500.
Amnesty International further underscored the gravity of the situation, stating that “thousands of people were arbitrarily detained and/or unfairly prosecuted solely for peacefully exercising their human rights.”
These protests and their profound impact served as the inspiration for Persian artist Kiana Honarmand’s exhibition, “A Shadow in the Depth of Light,” hosted at the VisArts Gallery in Rockville, Maryland.
Honarmand, deeply affected by the violence and injustice she witnessed, decided to create a powerful and thought-provoking art installation. Nearly 300 3D-printed hands made from red plastic polymer seemed to rise from the gallery floor, each bearing the name of a person killed during the protests.
“Each hand represents a human being who has sacrificed everything for the cause of justice, and for women’s rights, for human rights,” Honarmand explained.
In addition to the hands, the installation incorporated long locks of synthetic hair. These strands symbolized the Iranian women who started cutting their hair in protest of Amini’s death—a gesture that resonated with women worldwide who also began cutting their hair in solidarity.
On the exhibit’s windows, the popular protest slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” was printed in Persian, serving as a powerful reminder of the ongoing feminist movement in Iran.
Honarmand emphasized the importance of shedding light on this significant feminist movement: “I just had to talk about this because it’s the largest and most significant feminist movement of our time, and it’s not talked about as much as it needs to be.”
Visitors to the gallery were deeply moved by the installation. Gabriel Soto, the visitor services coordinator at VisArts, remarked, “My first response seeing this exhibition was that the hands coming from the ground looked like a scene from a horror movie. It really reminded me of the living dead coming from the ground.”
He stressed that the exhibition was a “wakeup call” to ensure the media continued to focus on the protests and the Iranian state’s response. “To make sure that people understand that this is still going on, the morality police are still operating, and women are still being brutalized in Iran,” he added.
Andrea Barron, an advocacy and outreach program manager at the U.S.-based nonprofit Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, found the long strands of hair particularly poignant. She noted their significance in the recent protests against the morality police, following Mahsa Amini’s tragic death.
“Even though these Iranian women are not in the news anymore, I think we need to keep thinking about them and their struggle for freedom,” Barron emphasized.
As the world commemorates the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s untimely death, “A Shadow in the Depth of Light” stands as a testament to the ongoing fight for women’s rights in Iran and serves as a poignant reminder that the struggle for justice, equality, and freedom continues.
