Women Life Freedom
Layla L.
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Women, Life, Freedom
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This illustration, done digitally, is of a 22 year old Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the “morality police” in Iran for not “properly wearing a headscarf or hijab. Mahsa is now the face of a young women's protest against the 43 years old theocratic fascist government in Iran, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands. Her murder represents the result of the extreme misogyny of the regime.
I chose to create this piece because Mahsa’s murder and the subsequent persecution and murder of many others who have had the courage to demonstrate their outrage is deeply personal to me as an Iranian-American woman. I feel it is easy for most people in America and the West to ignore the dire and on-going situation in Iran if they don't have family or a direct connection there, but for me, my mother and our family can’t and won't look away. I want to shine a light on this story and to particularly illuminate Mahsa as an individual, and by doing so demonstrate that the women and girls of Iran, and throughout the Middle East, are deserving of basic human rights and our sympathy and support.
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Since I was very young art has always been the natural way I explore my thoughts and feelings. I enjoy being active in the online art community where I have the chance to discover an infinite rage of other peoples artistic expression, while also being able to share my own.
