Woman, Life, Freedom

A collaboration of activists, artists, journalists, and academics working together to depict the historic uprising - with comics that show what would be censored in photos and film in Iran - in solidarity with the Iranian people, in defence of feminism. On September 13th 2022, a young Iranian student, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by the religious police in Tehran. Her only crime was that she wasn‘‘t properly wearing the headscarf required for women by the Islamic Republic. At the police station, she was beaten so badly she had to be taken to the hospital, where she fell into a deep coma. She died three days later. The plight of this 22-year-old woman raised a wave of protests that soon spread through the whole country, and crowds adopted the slogan ‘‘Woman, Life, Freedom.‘‘ Around the world, these words have been chanted during solidarity rallies. In this powerful visual collection of graphic novel style essays, Marjane Satrapi has gathered together intense narration by herself and an array of journalists and writers with graphic art perspectives from esteemed collaborators including Coco, a press cartoonist at Charlie Hebdo; Patricia Bolanos, a Spanish illustrator based in Brooklyn; Mana Neyestani, an Iranian cartoonist and illustrator; and Paco Roca, a Spanish comic book artist, Shabnam Adiban, an Iranian illustrator based in Toronto, among others. Together, these are the artists and story-tellers Marjane Satrapi has chosen to tell the story of a major revolution happening in her homeland of Iran today that has inspired support from around the world. Woman, Life, Freedom includes: Full colour art that bears witness and provides context for this major event for Iran and for all women from 18 exceptional graphic artists. Perspectives on Iran from three experts - long-time journalist for Liberation and political scientist Jean-Pierre Perrin; researcher and Iran specialist Farid Vahid; and UC Berkley historian Abbas Milani, Director of the Iranian Studies programme at Stanford University. Hand-drawn art and writing from activists, artists, journalists, and academics, collaborating from around the world in support of the cause. WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM demonstrates that this is not an unexpected movement, but a major uprising in a long history of women who have wanted to affirm their rights. It will continue. Contributing artists, including four Iranians. Joann Sfar, Coco, Mana Neyastani, Catel, Pascal Rabate, Patricia Bolanos, Paco Roca, Bahareh Akrami, Hippolyte, Shabnam Adiban, Lewis Trondheim, Winshluss, Touka Neyastani, Bee, Deloupy, Nicolar Wild, Hamoun. (Two artists have taken a pen name, Bee and Hamoun.)