I am currently performing “We, How We Became ‘We’”. Through spontaneous participation in the streets and other spaces, I realized that this work holds the potential to grow internationally. It can continue for years, across different geographies, where clothes, ropes, and stitches expand and spread—temporarily installed in significant public spaces that carry women’s historical narratives.

In each performance, I stitch part of this vast work onto my own hands and body with red thread, while inviting others to participate by tying red ropes, sewing them onto garments, and attaching mirror fragments. I see this as both a performative and a historical-research project, one that could evolve across many countries and contexts.

Recently, I performed this work in a women’s beauty salon. The owner and staff actively participated, which was very meaningful. In Iran, beauty salons are considered strictly private spaces, and posting images of unveiled women can result in the revocation of licenses, closure of salons, and even interrogation by security forces. Since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, several salons have been targeted, their social media accounts shut down, and some hairdressers summoned by intelligence officers.

A close friend who works in a salon shared that during the protests following the killing of Jina Amini, when they looked out from the salon window, they witnessed women being dragged and beaten in the streets by security forces. The forces even fired shots toward the salon windows and hurled verbal abuse at women. A few days later, the police summoned the salon owner for questioning about why the staff had been watching the protests from the windows instead of focusing only on their salon work.

Thus, this performance not only engages with personal and collective memory but also carries the stories of resilience and resistance of women in both private and public spaces.