Atena Farghadani drew a cartoon mocking Iran’s parliament in protest of her country’s anti-birth control policies. For this, she was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard in the summer of 2014.
In her July 15 interview with Michael Cavna of the Washington Post, after she was released from prison, the Iranian artist says: “I’m stuck in a limbo.” referring to the mental weariness and the physical problems caused by her imprisonment. “At the moment,” she continues, “since I’ve arrived at the certainty that there is miracle lying in the art of drawing and painting, I’m more determined to continue doing it than ever.”
Atena is an inspiration to many. Her creative and political resistance has influenced the community of artists and their supporters around the world. Paintings, drawings and cartoons have flooded in from her fellow artists for the #Draw4Atena call to arms.
While imprisoned at in the gruesome Gharchak prison she went on a hunger strike. She says, “What bothered me the most was to see inmates — many of whom were victims of the economic and cultural poverty in the Iranian system — who were not treated like human beings; their most basic rights were violated. I consider Gharchak prison as a graveyard of time …”
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| Atena Farghadani |
