A rose for Yasaman

It was the news about the 24 year old Yasaman Aryani, who got sentence to 16 years in prison for handing out roses without a hijab that got the artist from Odense to launch a new art event.

“I get very touched by brave people like Yamasan, who stakes her life for the fight for her rights”, says Jens Galschiøt, who is famous for his often provocative contemporary art.

Jens Galschiøt has therefore launched an art action to support Yasaman. Galschiøt has created a rose in copper and started an action, which has the purpose of sending out thousands of digital roses to Yasaman.

The rose

Galschiøt has made a 60 cm high rose made out of copper, bronze and steel, and is named after Yasaman. It is possible to bid on the Rose on Lauritz.com and the income goes to the Amnesty International’s work for women’s rights in Iran.  

Send a digital rose to Yasaman

“Yasaman got 10 years of prison for handing out roses, therefore she deserves to receive thousand of roses from us” Jens Galschiøt explains. By following the link, it is possible to send a rose to Yasaman and at the same time pressure the Iranian dictatorship to release her from prison.

Small rose:

Galschiøt has also created a series of roses in a smaller version.  One is for Yasaman, another is to her family and a third will be handed over to the Iranian ambassador of Denmark.

Context

As a part of the International Women’s Day the 8^th of March, Yasaman, her mother and a friend was handing out white roses in Teheran.

The 10^th of April 2019 Yasaman got arrested. She got solitary confinement in 9 days, where she got pressured into a forced confession on the grounds of having “spread propaganda against the system”.

Today she is imprisoned in the Evin-prison of Iran, a prison of women who have committed serious violent crime. In the prison the women gets isolated, they get interrogated without lawyers and some get exposed to torture.

Yasaman Aryani is not the only one who fights for the rights of the Iranian women and their right to choose how they want to get dressed. 

5 years ago Masih Alinejad started a movement, “White Wednesday”, in a protest against the mandatory use of the hijab, women’s headscarfs. The message has since been spread through the social media, where women posts pictures and videos on their profiles with use of the hashtag #whitewednesday. Yasaman is a part of this movement.

In the link below you have the opportunity to read more about Yasaman Aryani’s situation and about the “White Wednesday”-movement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40218711

https://amnesty.dk/nyhedsliste/2019/iranske-yasaman-kaemper-for-kvinders-rettigheder