Iran beyond the gaze of women

Since 2016, she has been living in Italy, where she has found a space for her voice to finally breathe, where her artistic soul can take shape. She graduated in English language and literature in her home country and is currently a master's student in language sciences at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Since 2023, she has dedicated herself to painting as a self-taught artist, driven by an inner urgency she could no longer ignore: to give light and color to the stories of brave Iranian women and, more generally, to all women who fight every day for their rights and dignity.

Her art is a silent yet powerful dialogue, a language made of shades and emotions that speaks of resistance, hope, and freedom. She began painting thanks to a small suitcase of colors, a gift from her partner, which ignited in her the courage to follow a passion she had long feared to explore. Each brushstroke is an act of freedom, each color a tribute to the voices that deserve to be heard.

There is so much in the works of Samereh Sagheb. There are gazes that traverse, with lips closed and eyelids lowered, never in surrender. There are gazes that lead elsewhere. There are choices and waits suspended between the past and the future. There are strong symbols: the mask of impositions, the angel, and the key to our inner resources. There is poetry embodied in images. There are many women and together one sole journey towards a freedom that is first liberation. There is the autobiographical narrative, but also the universal experience of every confined and discriminated woman. There are things that are difficult to leave behind, the limitations of moral policing, the silent gestures of rebellion (showing wrists, allowing a few strands of hair to escape from the veil). There is a present that is the smile of “finally.” There is dance, joy, and abandonment won through vitality and indomitable courage.

Opening: September 5 at 5:30 p.m.
Conference: Friday, September 11 at 9:00 p.m. – Trichiana Library