Women Life Freedom

The famous saying of “Jin Jiyan Azadi” relates to the fierce resistance of Kurdish & other minority women in a patriarchal society in & around Kurdistan. While the slogan underlines the significance of women’s freedom in any society, it also advocates for the need to implement a system of gender equality, without an exception.

This shirt is inspired and dedicated to strong women all over the world fighting for women, life, and freedom.

I ripped a page out of my studio journal:

The Kurdish Dress has taught me about collage, fashion, and resistance. The Dress as collage and protest. It has taught me everything I know about my motherland, my mother tongue, and my mother. The Dress has multiple layers. We have multiple layers. Some you can see, some you cannot. Nomatter how opaque the fabric of the dress on top is, there will always be a layer underneath it. I have worn leggings and tank tops underneath the dress because “it is too hot to wear this shiny sticky layer”, my mother and sisters do not approve because the layer underneath the dress should shine through. This layering informs me. It informs my making process. Layers of information. Layers of history. History of this dress being suppressed in different regions. The Dress has also taught me alot about the different roles that Kurdish women have in society. Kurdish women have been on the front lines fighting against ISIS and on the front of my mind. I think about how the west has glamorized these women with their long braids and colorful scarves. I think about the various ways I can disrupt fossilized/ monolithic readings of Kurdish identity through collage. The Dress has also taught me about the different oppressions women face in the different occupied regions. The Dress has variations dependent on the region. I understand why we wear the Kurdish dress to rallies when protesting. I never met my grandmother, but I have heard stories about how our neighbors in Nashville would throw rocks at her when she would walk my two older siblings to and from the bus stop everyday. She would wear a floral Kurdish dress and a white scarf over her head in all of the pictures I have seen.