These pictures were made by Narges Mohammadi in 2023 in Evin Prison, where she was previously held. She was transferred back to Evin in 2022 after periods of freedom and after having been held in other prisons:
“My return to Evin was strange, nostalgic and simultaneously exciting. The whole prison was familiar and full of memories to me. I went to the mosaic workshop and sat right in the same chair as I was sitting eight years ago, holding the little saw and picking up the wood and smelling it. I said myself I'd fly the same bird that was seeking peace eight years ago. And I sent these two birds into peace with an olive branch on the beak. The birds have now arrived at the Nobel Prize Museum. Well done.”
Narges Mohammadi donated the pictures to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2023.
This bracelet was weaved as a gift to Narges Mohammadi by her fellow prisoner Sedigheh Moradi. The first time Mohammadi saw Moradi in 2012, she suspected that Moradi had been in prison for a long time. This proved true. When Moradi shared her story, she revealed that she had lived most of her life in prison. She and many of her friends had been arrested and imprisoned in the 1980s. It was then that she came to know Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, whose name is on the bracelet. He is also a human rights activist and has been imprisoned periodically.
Narges Mohammadi donated the bracelet to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2023.
This doll was given to Narges Mohammadi by a women, who was her cellmate between 2015 and 2017. The woman was a member of a spiritual group led by her husband. The husband treated her badly, and she was followed by the regime’s security service. Her husband was arrested and executed. She was also sentenced to death. In 2017, she was transferred to another prison where she spent months in solitary confinement and was badly injured. She sent this doll to Narges Mohammadi with the help of another prisoner who was being transferred: “Every time I saw this suspended doll, I was reminded of my dear cellmate, who was suspended under the patriarchal religious tyranny at home, in society, and in prison, awaiting her death sentence.”
Narges Mohammadi donated the doll to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2023.
This paper bird is a birthday present to Narges Mohammadi from her fellow prisoner Nazanin Zagari, who made it together with her daughter, Gisu, in the visitor’s room in 2018. At the time, Zagari had been in prison for just over two years and each Monday Gisu would visit together with her grandmother. When Mohammadi was transferred to the prison in Zanjan, her mementos remained in Evin Prison. After she was released in 2020, she was surprised to be given these back, when another prisoner on leave was allowed to bring them to her.
Narges Mohammadi donated the paper bird to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2023.
Narges Mohammadi’s fellow prisoner Golrokh Iraee made Mohammadi this strap for her glasses in 2017. Mohammadi would hide her glasses in different places since she lacked a strap to hold them around her neck. Iraee made the strap from a piece of leather that was left over from her work. The strap wasn’t long enough to reach around her frizzy hair and hung from her hair instead of her neck. Her fellow prisoners thought it humorous and one, Atena Daemi, would imitate Mohammadi often.
Narges Mohammadi donated the glasses strap to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2023.
