Intuition, Courage and Creativity

21 Days 42 Artists Initiative and Iranian dolls

 In December 2022 I was invited by visual artist and curator Annette Fernando to be part of an impressive project. She had been offered the chance to take over The Pop Up Shop at Earls Court for the month of January and she very generously decided to share the space and opportunity with 41 other artists and friends.

Her idea was that each day two artists would take over the Pop Up Shop and work, sell and engage with the local community as they wished. It seemed so exciting to me and I said YES immediately. She suggested that we could also run evening and weekend workshops and talks. I jumped at the idea! I asked her if I could talk about what is happening in Iran using the Iranian dolls. She beamed and said YES!

I came home with a full heart, opened my treasured box full of dolls from Iran and said to them: “We are on a mission! Are you ready?” Trust me I could hear them cheering me on! Each one doll is uniquely precious, since the BBC WOMAN’S HOUR interview I have received two more boxes with even more variety and stories.

 It has been over four months since the murder of Mahsa Amini. I often think of her and her mission in this world. How she became the symbol of women saying “ENOUGH”. I wonder often “Where is she now?” Is she watching over us like an angel?Has she fulfilled her soul’s mission?

It seems we the Iranian women all have a Mahsa in us, perhaps she used to be the silent part of us,the obedient, the problem solver the one who tried to find a way through all the restrictions and limitations of this regime.There was no way, no matter how hard we tried it was never satisfying to the regime they still demanded more. The ultimate price was Mahsa’s life. Sadly she was not the first and will not be the last to be murdered unjustly at their hands. Mahsa’s death was the first blood that united us and created a connection to each woman and girl both inside and outside of Iran.

She was not just another girl in their hands, she became a symbol of this uprising. A unique revolution throughout our long history. The first time ever people came to the streets to claim women’s rights

For the past four months I have asked myself over and over “what can I do? What is my role in all this? how can I raise awareness? How can I talk about the issues that are so close to my being and more importantly be effective.” The answer came, “Talk about the dolls.” These dolls are the essence of Iranian identity, the spirit of the women of Iran. All colourful, diverse and the real story keepers.

What a contrast!

I have asked some of the doll makers via Instagram about the uprising. They all know about it and agree that something needs to be done, enough is enough.

They continue to make these dolls and are more than happy to share them with the world to show their side of the story.

Since the uprising my dear friend Alison Graves, an Integrative Arts Psychotherapist, and I have been in conversation about Iran, women’s rights and dolls.

She was the natural choice for me to ask about bringing our conversations to the public by holding a talk based on her questions and curiosity over this matter. Together we could make these conversations more accessible to our audience.

I am so grateful she said YES!

My day to take over The Pop Up Shop was January 27th. The plan was to decorate the shop with the dolls and my paintings of the dolls. In the evening we would do the talk and offer the dolls for sale. The doll makers called ‘The Mothers’ really wanted their dolls to be sold to the public and for non-Iranian women to have them in their homes. I learned through my conversations with them that while making the dolls they all sing prayers of goodwill and prosperity for their new owners. These dolls are keepers of secrets that women to women is understood.

The venue was small and intimate. Each day the two artists occupying the space would hang one art piece on the wall. Gradually, over 17 days, the space was filled with colour and inspiration. Annette’s dream was manifesting so wonderfully and powerfully. The collaborations that happened between artists and the community of artists in Earls Court was fascinating.

We could fit 30 people maximum in the space including ourselves. Preparing for the talk was highly satisfying. Ali conducted her questions so carefully and sensitively around the subject of the women of Iran and my own experience growing up, and the dolls.

I suggested the story of Vasalisa and Ali suggested for us both to read chapter three of Clarisa Pinkola Estes’s book Women who run with the Wolves.

Everything came together beautifully, with so much depth, care and curiosity… just the way I had hoped.

Ticket sales were a bit slow. I would get highly anxious at times. Navigating between the thin line of “What if no one shows up?” to “What if we can’t offer a seat to everyone?”

Well, the second scenario happened and we ended up offering our own seats to the audience and even had two standing! The talk went really well. The title was ‘Intuition, Courage and Creativity’.

What can we learn from the women of Iran?
We talked about how the dolls touched me and connected with my own personal experience as an Iranian woman who was born and raised in Iran. We talked about the dolls and how they were revived out of ‘grandmother’s memories’. Then Ali shared Vasalisa’s story with the audience. She asked if anyone was familiar with this story. The only person in the audience who had heard about the story was my son! (most times he is the one who knows).

We talked about intuition and how it is passed down from mothers to daughters. How intuition is important in navigating life’s challenges and created a thread through to the stories of the dolls: the intuitive women of Iran keeping their identity through making dolls. Ali even interviewed one of the dolls!

She offered an exercise guiding the audience to connect with their own intuition. This was instantly popular. The whole evening was highly emotional for me. To have some of my childhood friends to show up for the talk. Each memory I mentioned was shared amongst us and I could see a tear in the corner of everyone’s eyes. No one has been spared the pain.

Most people didn’t know about the existence of these dolls or about the diversity in their traditions, clothing or beliefs. The most popular dolls were from Baluchistan a very rich region in culture and tradition yet one of the most deprived regions of Iran. For the past 44 years, they have been brutally attacked, killed and denied basic human rights. In some smaller communities closer to the borders with Afghanistan they are even denied ID and proper birth certificates.

Yet the dolls from this region are full of life, beauty, style and joy. The contrast is almost shocking and really gives you something to think about and feel. The brutality of day-to-day life has pushed the makers to dream and create these dolls in contrast to their own experiences in life.

No matter what is happening the brutal regime has not succeeded in diminishing the spirit of the people. Their spirit is alive and soaring above it all. This is the power of creative arts.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful women who have listened to me and been holding my hand through this journey and been supporting me in making this project happen. It has been a really tough time for me emotionally and mentally. I have been supported with unconditional love by compassionate women from different corners of this world.

My heart is full and I am grateful beyond measure.

The profit of any sales will go back to Iran to support mothers to create more dolls.