Your name
Sima
Place of birth
Iran
Place where you live now
Berlin
3 words to describe you
woman life freedom
Why do you take pictures?
It is my weapon. For many years, I have been considering Iranian women's difficulties. The camera helps me to reflect my thoughts and feelings.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Actually, I do not get inspired, I am fighting through documentary photography.
Who are your influences?
Studying philosophy rescued me from patriarchy thought. It means philosophers like Sartre influenced me. But today it is different, the young generation particularly young women in Iran surprised me.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
If I answer in one word, being a woman has always determined my work. I was drowning in Iran’s patriarchy, I was not able to recognize what my rights were. When I found out the truth, I started to do my photography about women.
What impact would you like your art to have?
I honestly believe that at first, I help myself by curing my pain with art. Then it makes sense and creates awareness.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
Any artworks that come from pain like documentary work in poetry, film, photography, literature...
Is there anything you want to add?
Woman, Life, Freedom

The lotus seeds waiting to sprout
Project statement

A swamp is where living things are imprisoned. A lotus flower mysteriously grows in a swamp and is unique and beautiful. Even though it comes to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.

My story, along with the stories of many other Iranian women, is very similar to the lotus flower.

I had not paid attention to the rules and traditions before my marriage, which ended up in a tragic divorce, shortly after. I was living in a swamp, alive but unaware. I was just like grass that had grown in a swamp, with no roots and identity. My whole identity was defined by my father’s name, my husband’s name, and my future unborn son. As a woman, I had no identity or power without a man. I remember the time when my father was working far from home, and my mother, used to display his shoes in front of the door every night, in his absence, so our neighbors would believe that he was home. She would do it to protect us under the shadow of my father.

Then, I was confronted with this question, “Who am I?” My life was just like a portrait overshadowed by some men. In the search for myself, I discovered the seed of growth in me. I faced towards the sun and let that seed flourish into a lotus. From that point on, I was able to see other lotus seeds that were about to sprout. They were those women who were stuck in a swamp, and faced many challenges. But in spite of everything, they continued to grow and seek the light.

Many women are in the government prison guilty of showing their hair. All they wanted was to let the breeze dance with their hair. Singing is forbidden for girls and women. A girl committed suicide because she fell in love against the rules of the book and they deprived her of this love. Some girls dreamt of going to college, but found themselves in the bridal gowns being forced into arranged marriages. In this swamp, freedom is suffocated in the womb. There is no space to develop and grow. The tyrant governments always use religion as the best and strongest lever to control the people.

Yes, these women are in a swamp, but their seeds will sprout someday. No-one can stop a lotus from growing and beautifying its surroundings. Each lotus will bring forth more. A lotus knows that in order to survive, it should ponder and then grow and change the direction.

@simachoubdarzadeh