#OurStoryIsOne
By Dr. Claire Robison, Assistant Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College
Reprinted with permission from Dr. Robison, Assistance Professor at Bowdoin College
#OurStoryIsOne is a global art movement that commemorates Baha’i women who were killed for their religious identity. This is also a personal story for Maine resident, local activist, and artist Parivash Rohani. This exhibition seeks to highlight how local women’s stories can become global symbols of standing up for justice and equality.
From “Baha’i Mainer honors rights of women with #OurStoryIsOne,” an Amjambo Africa profile, published September 7, 2023:
In 1979, the year Islamic revolutionaries overthrew the Shah of Iran, Parivash Rohani fled her homeland for India, where she met her husband Nassar, was declared stateless when she tried to renew her passport, became a refugee, and briefly moved to California and then to Maine, where she has lived since the 1980s. Her flight from Iran was insisted on by her parents and propelled by persecution and violence because of her religion, which is Baha’i. This year marks the 40th anniversary of an event that took place when Rohani was already in India, but which has haunted her throughout her life—the execution of 10 young Baha’i women by hanging directed by the Iranian government. The victims were friends and fellow students of Rohani’s at the university, and to this day she suffers from the trauma associated with their brutal deaths. She remembers hearing the names of the victims read over the radio when she was on her honeymoon in 1983, and how she screamed when she recognized the names. Before she fled Iran, her own house was burned to the ground along with the homes of 500 other Baha’i followers. Her parents also received direct threats because Rohani was studying at the university.
I vividly remember that winter night when we were awakened by loud banging. My father opened the door to find a young man informing him that a mob of fanatical individuals was setting Baha’i homes on fire. Concerned for my safety as a young girl, he urged my father to take me to a safe place before our house was engulfed in flames. In haste, he left to alert other families with young daughters to do the same. Left with no choice, my parents had to quickly find a solution. Since they couldn’t trust taking me to another Baha’i home, they decided it was best for me to join my cousin in a college dormitory where I would be secure. That evening, my father came to pick me up and deliver the devastating news that our house had been reduced to ashes, forcing us to relocate. (written by Parivash)
Parivash and Nasser both fled to India, where they found an embrace of religious diversity. India has since become a global center for Baha’i followers and houses the iconic Lotus temple in Delhi. Though ironically, with the rise of aggressive Hindu nationalism, it is today a place that can be unsafe for Muslims and Christians. It is precisely the possibility for religious persecution and suppression of women’s rights everywhere that gave inspiration to the title of this exhibition, Our Story is One.
The exhibition name points beyond a specific instance of religious persecution, to draw attention to women of all religions and backgrounds who face opposition for their very identities. In the past few years in Iran, a movement protesting restrictions on women’s dress and mobility has coalesced around the slogan “Zan Zindagi Azadi” or Women, Life, Freedom. Spurred on by the death of Mahsa Amini, this protest movement has brought people of varying genders, religions, and ethnic backgrounds together to support freedom and life for all. #OurStoryIsOne echoes this protest movement by remembering the lives of earlier women who have fought for a similar cause.
From Ireland and India to Kuwait and Australia, Baha’i followers in diaspora and allies have produced artwork and organized performances this year to signal a shared honoring of women who stand up against oppressive systems and governments, even in the direst circumstances.
This exhibit is composed of local artwork produced and curated by Parivash and Nasser Rohani, who live in Portland. Entitled “The Darkness: Shadows of Ignorance, Fanaticism, and Prejudice,” his collection serves as a heartfelt tribute to the 10 women in Shiraz. This local art showcases how our corner of the Northeast is connected to global histories.
Iranian exiles in Maine share with many immigrants and refugees a connection to a homeland that has been complicated by a modern political turn toward religious nationalism—a way of being patriotic that asserts only members of one religious (and often ethnic) group are worthy of full citizenship and rights.
Acts of creative remembrance like this seek to channel frustration at political injustices towards celebrating the beauty of life, especially of those whose full humanity has not been respected. If justice cannot be achieved everywhere, resilience in oppression can take root in efforts throughout the world. Local women’s stories can become global symbols of standing up for justice and equality.
— Dr. Claire Robison, Assistant Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College