This is a collaborative piece made by Iranian women in the diaspora. It is a stop-motion animation, made from cuttings of our collective hair, and overlaid with a poem about hair and control. We move the hair to write the message:
Ma hameh bahamim.
We are all together.
The battle cry of Iran’s women fills its streets, and, 6668 miles away, it captures our hearts. We the diaspora think of you our hamvatanis every single day. We who miss the home we have never known, and the freedom it has never tasted. We think of rainbows and all that is lost. Our words and thoughts feel empty, and worthless. What can we offer you whose lives and loves have been cut short? Ma hameh bahamim, we insist, as we watch our age mates rip the ru-saris from their hair and let it dance freely in the breezes of change. We are all together, we whisper, as we watch our younger sisters scream at the mullahs whose gaze long imprisoned them. And the wind is full of hair, and it is everywhere. It is the air. It is the lifeblood of the revolution. It is fuel to the fire and inspiration to our souls. We offer you our hair. No more no less. This precious political mess. Snip snip snip. Mah hameh bahamim. Our hands are steady, our voices ready. Zan Zendegi Azdadi.
By: Nava Derakhshani, Amy Rawhani, Mona Hakimi, Sameen Lotfi, Carmel Rawhani.
