“Woman. Life. Freedom”

Irandokht

Object: Centrepiece of a Pendant. Material: Bronze. Found in Luristan, Persia (Iran). Manchester Museum inv. 1965.21. This small pendant shows a woman’s face. Her hair is softly pulled back from her face and decorated with two braids, one from ear-to-ear and the other from the middle of her forehead to the back of her head. There’s a loop at the top of her head, but the original necklace is lost. Photography by Julia Thorne / Tetisheri.

I think it is important for my identity not to be the first thing you engage with. I want you to focus on my work.
The reason to choose the pendant was the small smiling woman.
Protests were happening in my country that made me want to highlight the role of girls and women in our struggle.
The pendant is bronze, a strong material, and represents for me the strength of women in my country and how they are treated.
We were so young to experience these pains, stress, and bad news every single day, not able to sleep because we were scared of a new morning and new sad news.
Our pillows were the witness of our weakness, but in the morning we had that powerful face to show how unstoppable we are, to make our people feel that they are not alone, and to show them our patience and strength.
We proved you cannot know a person but cry for his death, you cannot know a person but help her, and you cannot know a person and still be worried for their life. You cannot know a person but be his family.
You cannot know a person but arrange a funeral for him.
We proved we are all together regardless of gender, nationality and religion.
Irandokht