The “Woman, Life, Freedom” mural project was born from an unshakable call—both ancient and immediate—to honor the women of Iran who are risking everything for their freedom. But this work reaches beyond politics or protest. These murals are sacred declarations, layered with ancestral memory and prophetic vision. Conceptually, they exist as bridges: between eras, nations, and faiths. Each image invokes a lost garden—Edenic and exilic—where Persian and Jewish histories intertwine not as strangers, but as kin.
Spiritually, the work is deeply rooted in the shared Biblical soil of Persia and Israel. Queen Esther, a Persian Jew, stood between two worlds and saved her people. Cyrus the Great, a Persian king, is named in the Hebrew Bible as the one chosen by God to set the Jews free and rebuild the Temple. That legacy of mutual liberation is not symbolic—it is prophetic. These murals reclaim that covenant and cry out for its revival in our time. Each brushstroke is a prayer, a lament, and a call to justice, echoing Jeremiah 49:38: “I will set my throne in Elam.” This isn’t just ancient scripture—it is a divine promise breaking into the present.
Aesthetically, the murals fuse modern resistance iconography with ancient Near Eastern symbolism. Faces are fractured yet defiant, adorned with elements of fire, wind, gold, and light. Some figures are drawn from martyrs of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement—Mahsa Amini, Nika Shakarami, Hadis Najafi—rendered in haunting beauty as if painted on the walls of a contemporary Book of Lamentations. Colors are chosen not merely for contrast, but for their elemental weight: crimson for martyrdom, turquoise for Persian royalty, black for mourning, and white for divine justice. The result is a visual language that transcends borders and demands the viewer not only to see, but remember.
In bringing this work to Israel—on walls, fences, and courtyards—I sought to return these women’s stories to sacred ground. This is not just political art. It is prophetic art. And like all prophecy, it is meant to disturb the comfortable, comfort the afflicted, and awaken something ancient inside us.
Mural 1, printed banner, January 2023, Jerusalem, Israel. Mahsa Amini, Sarina Esmailzadeh, Fereshteh Ahmadi, Nika Shakarami—all women murdered by the Iranian Islamic regime.
Mural 2, spray paint on concrete, January 2023, Nazareth, Israel. “It’s time for the Esthers of the world to rise up”—in Farsi, Hebrew, and English—celebrates the fact that this is the first woman-led revolution in the history of the world.
Mural 3, spray paint on stucco, March 2023, Netanya, Israel. Niloufar Aghaee, blinded by the Islamic regime for showing her hair; the nightingale (the official bird of Iran) covers the eye the morality police shot out.
Mural 4, spray paint on concrete, April 2023, Netanya, Israel. Ghazal Ranjkesh, also blinded for showing her hair; the hoopoe (the official bird of Israel) covers her eye, its beak pointing toward the Golden Gate (also called the Gate of Mercy) leading to the Temple Mount.
Mural 5, spray paint on stucco, December 2023, Tel Aviv, Israel. The only mural in the world dedicated to the schoolgirls of Iran who were deliberately poisoned by the Islamic regime—with toxic chemicals released through school ventilation systems as an act of terror against families demanding freedom. But notice that the little girl is still smiling and her hair is showing, and she is brave and strong (Proverbs 31:25).
Mural 8, printed banner, December 2023, Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles. Dedicated to Mahsa Amini and Shirel Haim Pour, an Iranian Jewish IDF soldier murdered on October 7. Recalling the two places in the Bible where God will set His throne: Jerusalem and Elam (Iran).
Mural 9, spray paint on concrete, January 2024, Tel Aviv, Israel. Kosar Khoshnoudikia—a champion archer, blinded for showing her hair—riding a lion with a bow and arrow in her hand; beside her are her sisters, Shirel Haim Pour and Queen Esther.
Mural 12, spray paint on stucco, May 2024, Mateh Yehudah Regional Council, outside of Jerusalem, Israel. One of only two murals in the world—both located in Israel—in honoring Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper imprisoned in 2023 for participating in the 2022 anti-regime protests.
Mural 13, spray paint on stucco, June 2024, Tel Aviv, Israel. Celebrating the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, the women he murdered for showing their hair use their hair to pull down his helicopter—the Hand of God, fulfilling Jeremiah 49:38, assisting the righteous below.
