Shahab Mehrnami, Iran

“My name, ‘Shahab’, means ‘shooting star’ in Farsi. Fate and the trajectory of my star propelled me far away from my home country of Iran.
We smelled burning tyres and blood in the streets as the lion’s roar – the long-silenced spirit of freedom within us – finally found its voice after forty-seven years. Our voices had been muted for so long that we needed something to trigger them. Through tears and fire, our words became as strong as the regime’s bullets, declaring that enough was enough. A voice knows no walls, no chains, no measure of distance.
You often only realise that you had something when you lose it. We lost our king, we lost our father, and we lost our identity. I learned to fight for freedom – to paint the sky blue, the sun orange, and the night black – understanding that it has many colours, including LGBTQ rights, women’s rights and the freedom to reject religion.
At university, I challenged the state’s views on how we should live and used my voice as an activist and journalist to speak for the silent majority. The price of demanding these rights was prison, torture, the loss of my education, and threats to my life. Fifteen years ago, I chose to flee. In my luggage, I carried photos of my father, mother, and friends – the memories and experiences I could not leave behind.
It was not an easy transition, as I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. My trauma continued with my struggle to find accommodation, and I began to self-harm after being forced to live on the streets.
The projected photograph holds many stories, each etched into a single face. Life bears bruises on the skin; its truest expression is the slogan carved into the body: ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’. It is a face half-hidden by a scarf from Islamist violence, struggling to breathe democracy through the haze of religion without surrendering beauty or identity. These marks reveal fate’s truth on the women warriors of my country, who stand on the front line. Let your cry for freedom rise without restraint, for it is a birthright written into your soul.”