1.

I am a woman. I am a German woman. I am an Iranian woman.

I am here. I am elsewhere. I am me.

I am free. I am not free.

I live. I live here.

I am divisible. I am indivisible.

Woman. Life. Freedom. Zan. Zendegi. Azadi.

Anonymous, Artist, 2025

2.

We who are conscious, we actually have even more difficulties. We may not hurt anyone, because we know. I’m deeply engaged in painting, noticing whatever little time we now have—and he, he keeps pulling beautiful pictures out of his sleeve. I want to use my unmarried time properly to learn; for my getting married shall not be a reason that I become nothing.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, letter to her mother, Worpswede, November 3, 1900

3.

I am a fully valid witness. I am present at the crime scene. My entire life I have been present at the crime scene. I, a woman whose testimony is worth only half as much as a man’s.

Anonymous, author, 2023

4.

I believe my happiness consists in the hope of my wishes being fulfilled. But once I hold it in my hand, it seems far less tempting to me. It then appears only as a natural developmental stage, over which one need not wonder and need not rejoice.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, diary, April 2, 1902

5.

My friends whom I meet during my stay in Iran—all opponents of the regime, known or unknown—are aware of the responsibility that arises from their hope after the regime’s fall, and they bear their burden. Yet they find no effective way to fulfill this responsibility. From this state, they act differently, even oppositely.

One took part in the presidential election out of despair; another joined monarchists; one strives to found a social democratic party; another attempts to bring together a group of integrative figures from the opposition who could lead society in its hour of need.

One established an independent media platform to strengthen the opposition’s voice domestically. Another is under such pressure from constant summons and professional bans imposed on him that he surrenders the future to the course of events. Another plans to leave Iran to engage against the regime in exile. And so on.

A friend who was recently released from prison claims that in recent years much of the opposition’s political energy has been spent on symbolic actions that have yielded no decisive results. “Even if they are good enough to enter history, they do not contribute to the overthrow of this regime.”

Anonymous, Artist, 2024

6.

This loneliness sometimes makes me sad and sometimes happy. I believe it deepens one. One lives little by external appearance or recognition. One lives turned inward. I believe that from such feelings people used to go to monasteries. And here is my experience that my heart longs for one soul, and that is called Clara Westhoff. I believe we will never find each other again. We go a different path. And perhaps this loneliness is good for my art—that in this serious silence wings grow.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, diary, Easter week, March 1902

7.

“A Persistent Illusion”
Silent hovering, I close my eyes, my body awakens, restless calm.
I push my thoughts beyond borders, I am YOU, you ME, and MeToo.
Hear me while you scroll, my body a prayer rug, My flesh your victory.

Koushna Navabi, Artist, January 2025

8.

I must learn to express the gentle vibration of things. The curl within them.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, diary, February 20, 1903

9.

The body has always fascinated me in its raw and naked presence. The body behind the Hijab—that thing we were meant to preserve for Paradise. At school, our nude drawing models were always fully clothed and mostly in uniform.

My early drawings were rejected and censored at school. I remember showing my teacher a drawing of a naked woman of which I was really proud. I had just started school—maybe seven or eight years old.

She asked me, “Why don’t you draw her with clothes?” Then she walked away holding her own veil tightly wrapped around her body. That was probably the first feedback I received for my art. I felt challenged.

It felt indescribably good. Of course, I continued to paint nude figures obsessively—it was, in a way, my silent protest.

Tasalla Tabasom, Artist, 2023

10.

They watch my painting very suspiciously—and during the break, when I’ve left the spot in front of my easel, they stand in groups of six and debate about it. A Russian woman asked me whether I truly see it the way I paint it and who taught me. I lied and proudly said, “Mon mari.” Then it dawned on her, and she said enlightened, “Ah, so you paint like your husband.” They do not suspect one paints like oneself.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, letter to Otto Modersohn, Paris, February 23, 1905

11.

The imperial feminist discourse of today is truly exhausting. I hope that young women are doing well. And I wish justice and liberation for all women.

Anonymous, 2024

12.

You worry on my behalf? Why, with what, through what? Sometimes life is harder than other times—but one must cope. One must even become finer thereby. One may grow older from it, which I dread, because it is so boring, for though I am approaching my thirtieth year, I fear adulthood, which I identify with “being resigned.” Sitting still here sometimes becomes very difficult. Still, I tell myself that what comes hard is not always what one should avoid.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, to Herma Becker, Worpswede, December 1, 1905

13.

For two years we have had to remind the West that the resistance of Iranian women neither began in 2022 nor ended then—even despite media narratives that justify a Western “intervention” under the pretext of “giving Iran back to Iranians.”

Iranians who believe U.S. bombs would save them are mostly monarchists in the diaspora. Some seem more interested in eating “kabob” in Kashan than worrying about people’s lives.

For years, many Iranians have had to fight on countless fronts: against the brutality of the Iranian regime; against the effects of U.S. sanctions, which hit the most vulnerable; against xenophobia and the political instrumentalization of protest footage from Iran by states like Germany, which thereby fuel Islamophobia and anti‑immigration campaigns and create support for expanding the war in the Middle East.

It is hard to ignore how Germany is currently obsessed with Iranian dissident films and exploits them to justify its efforts to stoke conflicts in the Middle East, while simultaneously suppressing Palestinian voices.

There is nothing wrong with the films themselves. But as artists and filmmakers, we have some measure of control over whether our works are instrumentalized for campaigns we oppose. We can exercise that control by not remaining silent.

If we create political works and shout “Woman, Life, Freedom” yet remain silent about Palestine, we must ask ourselves what we are contributing to. None of us is innocent.

Anonymous, Artist & Filmmaker, 2024

14.

Striving for strength. That all sounds so dramatic. One just does what one can, then goes to sleep. And in that way, one day something is accomplished. Guilt or innocence. One is as good or as bad as one is. Tinkering with oneself has little purpose. One should continue one's path straight and simple. I consider myself good by nature, and should I occasionally do something bad, then it is natural. These words may sound harsh or arrogant to you. One is like this, another like that.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, to Milly Rohland‑Becker, Paris, August 12, 1906

15.

You can also say: I was born in Berlin, baptized, but do not attend church, believe in something higher, but wouldn’t call it God, do a bit of yoga, etc.

I, as an Iranian woman, would like to say it the same way: I am a little of this and a little of that.

Interview with Farifteh, May 5, 2005

16.

That you stand in the background of my freedom makes it so beautiful. If I were free and didn’t have you, it would mean nothing to me.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, letter to Otto Modersohn, January 31, 1905

17.

The idea that "good" art should be apolitical or unsocial often rests on the assumption that art must be a retreat from the realities of the world. But I believe that this is changing and more and more people recognize that art does not emerge in a vacuum and cannot be separated from the society in which it is created.

Indeed, we should use art as a powerful tool for social change. I do not claim that all female artists must be political activists, but I believe they should engage in societal discourse. Art can shift perception and attitude in viewers and draw attention to important issues.

Roshi Roozbehani, Illustrator, 2022

18.

Women’s emancipation in this rabble‑like manner is very ugly and unpleasant.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, to Otto Modersohn, January 31, 1901

19.

When I tell people that I come from Iran but am not religious, they say: “Oh, so you are Western then?” Then I reply: “No, I am Iranian and not religious.” If one is not Muslim, one is immediately considered Western.

You see, that is our problem—for most people here there are only these two categories. We do not appear in public discourse at all.

Interview with Nasrin, July 8, 2004

20.

“Inner City”

The sparrows on the pavement in my path—they moved a little but did not fly away
There is a way to be together in this world—There is a way

Bänoo Zan, Author, 2024

21.

It is good to detach oneself from conditions that take one’s breath away.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, diary, 1904

22.

Now in Iran tears fall from one of our eyes and blood from the other. These tears and this blood bring burning questions to our understanding of feminism in the shadow of neo‑Orientalism: they once again challenge us to consider whose voice counts and whose voice is constantly interrupted, misunderstood, silenced, and erased.

This revolution revolutionizes the masculine and heteronormative grammar of a revolution. It has no—and resists having—a male leader, male savior, male victor. It refuses to follow a worn path, to submit to a specific direction, a predetermined goal, or an established ideological conclusion. It is kept collectively anonymous and saved anonymously as a collective.

Anonymity is a collective act of disobedience—and to be disobedient means to be collective.

Niloofar Rasooli, Activist and Author, 2022

23.

Well… in my opinion, it’s better if people accept that some choose not to wear a hijab. But they should know—if they end up in hell, that’s their business. We shouldn’t do anything to them. To hell with them. They will inevitably go to hell. And good for those who wear a hijab. But when people protest, like “Why don’t you wear a hijab?” or “Why do you wear a hijab?”, that is just stupid. Then the police always show up and say: “You shouldn’t be on the street, you shouldn’t be without a hijab…” Come on! Let them go. Let them go to hell. It’s none of your business. That is my opinion. Leave them alone.

Anonymous, 2024

24.

And now I don’t even know how I should sign myself. I am not Modersohn and I am no longer Paula Becker. I am Me, and I hope to become more so.

Fragment from a letter by Paula Modersohn‑Becker, 1906

25.

The ground beneath my feet became soft and shifted without warning.

Farkhondeh Aghaei, Author, 2021

26.

I cannot afford it—and I do not believe that any form of liberation can ever occur under the supervision of a militarized power and according to predefined guidelines. I did not leave surveillance in my own country only to accept another.

For this reason, and to remain true to my feminist principles, I have come to the conviction that not retracting my contribution—especially one addressing the feminist solidarity movement in Iran—would merely contribute to further instrumentalization of a struggle used to silence others.

Hereby I officially withdraw my contribution from the dossier.

Sanaz Azimipour, Author and Activist, 2023

27.

Worpswede, Worpswede, Worpswede! My submerged bell‑mood! Birches, birches, pines and old willows. Beautiful brown moors—exquisite brown! The canals with their black reflections, black like asphalt.

Paula Modersohn‑Becker, diary, Worpswede, July 24, 1897