Artist JR unveils a new work in homage to Iranian women

“It brings attention back to also show that on the other side of the world, we think of all these women and all these people who are fighting on the ground,” JR said. The world-renowned photographic collage expert presented his new work on Sunday 4 December in New York. According to’AFP extension, the French chose to present the profile face of Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old girl killed during protests against the Iranian regime. She is one of nearly 300 people who have died since the protests began on September 16, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested three days before her death by the morality police for violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code which specifically requires women to wear the veil in public.

Hundreds of volunteers to represent Nika Shakarami’s hair

The photo chosen by Jean René, this is the artist’s full name, was sent by one of the victim’s aunts. The shot would be one of the last published on social media by the teenager. To complete the face collage and style the girl’s hair, JR called on more than one hundred volunteers. Arranged around the collage, they give the impression of windblown hair, freed from this veil that Iranian women demand to be able to wear as they please. “As an artist, you often wonder how you can help causes that are so just and that, somewhere, affect so many people in the world, so many women in the world, especially right now and in Iran,” explained the artist. .

A work for the attention of the United Nations

According to Info Francethe performance is part of the “Eyes on Iran” campaign. »organized by Iranian women members of human rights organizations such as the global coalition Women, Life, Freedom, named after the slogan chanted by protesters in Iran. Their goal is to obtain from the United Nations the withdrawal of Iran from the UN commission on the status of women, whose vote is scheduled for December 14th. Therefore, JR’s work was exhibited in Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island, an island located in front of the United Nations headquarters. On the same day, the Iranian authorities announced the abolition of the morality police. An announcement that does not convince Iranian women, and which, even if it proves effective, would not be enough to make them free women, a large part of their slavery that takes place behind the closed doors of families.

Front page image: Instagram screenshot