Today, I send my most heartfelt congratulations to artist Sohelia Sokhanvari as she opens her solo presentation ‘Rebel Rebel’ at the Barbican Centre in London this week. A show that honors the lives and legacies of Iranian women artists of the pre-revolutionary past, Sohelia turns the galleries into a glittering archive of Iranian feminist liberation and artistic achievement as Iranians fight for their futures in the streets. I feel incredibly honored to have contributed an essay for this important and timely project in a moment where Iranian women and their comrades enact radical rebellion against their country’s fascist-religious patriarchy. As the powerful, intersectional protests against gender apartheid in Iran continue in spite of the horrific crackdowns by the fascist Islamic regime, Sohelia’s work reminds me of the incomparable bravery, creativity, and sense of solidarity that Iranian women and queer people continue to manifest anew in their very lives as they fight for their human rights, educational rights, and the rights to their own bodies and desires. These figures and faces rising up against political evil that beam across our screens and feeds are each an instantiation of radical freedom, with deep connection to the generations of rebellious Iranian women who have resisted and refused the conditions of their oppression for more than 50 years. To those who risk it all for a better life, a sense of dignity, a space to breathe and love and grow without fear—Your fight is my fight. You are Iran’s moral compass. Fuck the clerics, whose evil knows no bounds. You are Iran. IMAGES: (1) Sokhanvari, ‘Rebel (Portrait of Zinat Moadab’ 2021 (2) ‘The Love Addict (Portrait of Googoosh) 2019 (3) Portrait of Haydeh Changizian, 2022 (4) ‘The Lor Girl (Portrait of Samiejad)’, 2022 (5) courtesy of @middleeastimages @soheila_sokhanvari_ @barbicancentre #eleanornairne @hilaryfloe #soheilasokhanvari #rebelrebel #barbican #fuckfascism #fuckpatriarchy #womenlifefreedom #mahsaamini