Woman, Life, Freedom: CU community stands in solidarity with the women of Iran

On April 10, students noticed hundreds of shoes lined up on Hellems lawn. The shoes turned out to be an art installation. 

The display, set up by students, faculty and volunteers, is intended to represent solidarity with Iranian women. It honored Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old woman who was arrested and held in custody for three days by Iran’s morality police prior to her death. Iran’s morality police largely focus on enforcing Islamic dressing laws for women.

The installation also honored the women of Iran who died protesting for women’s rights following Amini’s death and  those who are still protesting the Iranian regime and its morality police. 

Parisa Tashakori, an Iranian-American woman and a professor of advertising, public relations and media design at the university and Dr. Sabrina Sideris, the program director for INVST, a community-based learning and research program at CU Boulder,  along with others, came up with the idea of an art installation during one of their “action session” meetings. According to Sideris, In these meetings, several professors and others in the community meet on Saturday afternoons to discuss ways in which they can continue taking action to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran. The group aimed to collect 90 pairs of shoes from friends, family, classmates and coworkers. 

“We said that they could be from any size, shape, gender, style and that was specifically because we wanted to represent the fact that the people who are being arrested and executed for simply speaking up in Iran,” she said. “They are people of all ages, lots of young people, lots of women and girls, but gender, age, interests and lifestyles, those things don’t govern who gets arrested and harmed physically for speaking up and who doesn’t. And so we wanted that to be represented with the shoes.”

According to Tashakori, each shoe displayed represented the 19,000 people who had been arrested for engaging in protest, including some children under the age of 18, since Amini’s death. The display also consisted of paintings and artwork by students from her class. 

The paintings featured quotes of solidarity with Amini and Iranian women fighting for their rights, and protest slogans in Kurdish that read “Jin Jiyan Azadi,” which translates to “Woman, Life Freedom.” Tashakori, who was born and raised in Iran, said she wanted to raise awareness about this issue through art.

“They came [up] with so many cool ideas. I couldn’t believe how they could understand the topic, you know, because it is very far from here,” she said. “Even some students [who] didn’t know where Iran is – and I could understand because there is no information for them – they [still] really connected with  the subject and just came up with so many ideas.”

Isabella Pao, a third-year student at CU Boulder who had her painting displayed said she wanted her art to focus on perspectives of being a woman and “what it would feel like to have all those rights infringed,” she said. She said the public display was important and contributes a larger impact to social change and awareness to the CU community.

“Bringing that impact over to a more seen place, such as a college campus, surrounded by women who were the same age [as Amini] to see that ripple was definitely inspiring and hopefully it can pass on to another person,” she said. “That’s why I think it’s really amazing that Parisa encourages her students to spread that kind of impact.”

Two other students in Tashakori’s class, Cole Nelson and Lia Murphy, also contributed their art to the display. 

“I was ecstatic to be part of it to be honest, because I feel like my footprint in such a cause is so small and miniscule, and I wish I could do more and have a larger say, but just bringing awareness and an understanding to a greater audience is really important,” Nelson said.

Rumi Natanzi, an Iranian-American woman and third-year student at CU Boulder said the display helps bring the issues of human and women’s rights in Iran to Boulder and encourages those who walked by it to take their own initiative to learn more.

“This [display] just shows the enormity of the issue, and I think it’s very subtly done in the sense that it’s a big powerful message, but then there’s just like a sign that has a brief statement, and then implores you to learn more, and so it’s at your own will, your own volition to take this step further to learn [about the issue],” she said. 

Murphy, a second-year student at CU Boulder, said the display connects womens’ rights violations throughout the world.

 “I feel like it brings attention to the problems that are surrounding Irani women, but I feel like it also kind of brings a connection between Irani women and women in America and with us, with places taking away our abortion rights,” she said. “I feel like it brings in this connection where we can all come together to fight for not just one human rights, but all human rights.” 

Like Murphy, Natanzi noted how violations of women’s rights is both a global issue and something happening here in the United States. 

“I hope that people who walk past this, understand that issues, specifically issues pertaining to human rights, aren’t specific to a religion or to a political formation or a specific part of the world,” Natanzi said.