Yahoo Lifestyle Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shares the art that inspires her
“Art is…a way to evoke emotions,” Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe tells us, in the latest episode of our new video franchise, The Art That Inspires Me. As we talk, she is sitting in front of one of her favourite pieces, Untitled #14 from the In Turn series by the photographer Hoda Afshar.
The work Zaghari-Ratcliffe has chosen has a vital yet understated political message. Afshar, who is of Iranian descent, photographed three young women standing in a line, all plaiting each other’s hair. “It’s something Kurdish women have been doing for decades as a form of resistance,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe explains. “This notion gradually came into the Iranian women-led movement.”
The author and activist’s home country is currently undergoing huge social and political change, following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The 22-year-old was killed while in the custody of Iran’s ‘morality police’, with eyewitnesses claiming she was beaten by officers for showing her hair. Her death sparked national outcry, with numerous peaceful protests, where demonstrators chanted ‘Women, Life, Freedom’. However, these protests have since evolved into a nationwide movement seeing citizens fighting against a fundamentalist and oppressive regime.
“In Iran, everything is political,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe says. “An artist is a single-handed activist that uses her art to contribute to social and political change, without being connected to any political force. What I like about artists in particular in my country is that they use their art, which is a subtle way of dealing with emotions, to be part of a movement that will hopefully lead to social and political change.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's chosen work is a subtle statement around female solidarity, which evokes memories of her time in prison. She was unjustly incarcerated for six years in Iran where she endured horrendous conditions, but during that time she also found deep-rooted solidarity with other female inmates.
“Women helped each other and supported each other, regardless of their political affiliations, religion or background,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe recalls. “We were there to tackle one specific aim, which was the injustice that the system had put all of us through. This series of pictures remind me of that time.”
Afshar’s work also reminds Zaghari-Ratcliffe of her daughter Gabriella, who was just two when her mother was detained. “Gabriella’s middle name is Gisou. Gisou in Farsi means plaited hair,” she explains. “Seeing all these women in these series of pictures with their hair plaited, it kind of threw me back to those nights that I was longing to be back and free to plait my child’s hair.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released in 2022, and returned back to the UK immediately after she was freed. She misses Iran, saying her heart “beats every day for whatever happens in the country”.
“I really, really miss is my country,” she says. “Afshar’s work allows me to both reflect on what I’ve been through in the past, but also what’s happening in Iran at the moment.”
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