Soudabeh Ardavan
Soudabeh Ardavan is an Iranian woman, a former political prisoners now living in
Sweden. She spent eight years of her precious life in the prison of the Islamic regime of Iran. She is an artist who drew prison life while she was in jail. Through these images, Soudabeh tells her story of hundreds of other women with whom she shared days of pain, sorrow, love and care.
Soudabeh Ardavan’s powerful book of Prison Drawings is the first visual depiction of atrocities committed against thousands of women in prisons of Iran.
"I tried very hard, under excruciating conditions and fearing for my life as well as others in my cellblock, to capture moments, horrifying moments and sometimes beautiful ones. " - "I drew pictures of the ugly, the unclean, the pure and the blue sky with white birds, hoping to see freedom one day. I drew everything and anything."

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www.soodabe.com

Shohreh Kia,
During the six years of prison she always trying to do any kind of art work, carving the stone, or when she has no brush and no colure, used needle and tread to show her feeling and bring hope and life to those very dark and painful years.

She has a collection of artwork from those days, which will show as an art exhibition and video clip in this seminar.
Shohreh escaped Iran in1988 and immigrated in Canada, in her exile she continued to be active for her believe and while working as a professional, her interest in art continued by taking art classes.

"I try to capture my emotion and my perception through the simplicity of shape, the harmony of color,and the light and dark.
My painting are symbol of my interpretion of my life and my societyand and my belives."

Gallery

JACOBO SILVA NOGALES, also known as Comandante Antonio, mexican political prisoner and member of "La Otra Campaña" (The Other Campaign), was detained on October 19th, 1999 in Mexico City, transferred to a military base and severely tortured until he was presented to the media together with his wife, Gloria Arenas Agis, and two other prisoners a few days later. He is sentenced to 46 years of imprisonment and actually imprisoned in the Maximum Security Prison "Altiplano", State of Mexico.
He was one of the founders of the Revolutionary Army of the Insurrect People (ERPI), mostly active in the state of Guerrero. During his time in prison he started to paint and has now an impressive collection of artwork, many of them dealing with prison, that has been recognized by art critics and exhibited in different countries.

Gallery

Unknown Artists
"This collection of paintings belongs to two Iranian women who were political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their identity cannot be revealed because the persecution of the Islamic state extends beyond the prison. The paintings depict the struggle of these women inside the prison as well as the larger social prison which the Islamic regime has created for women."