A collection of locks of hair to be delivered to the Iranian consulate in Milan as a form of peaceful protest against the repressions implemented by the Tehran regime: this is the initiative launched by the Triennale starting today, Wednesday 28 September. Anyone who wants to join can leave a lock of their hair, tied with a rope, in a special container in the atrium of the Palazzo dell’Arte. After the tragic end of Mahsa Amini – the 22-year-old originally from Iranian Kurdistan who died in a detention center after being stopped in Tehran by the moral police, Ershad, because she did not wear the veil correctly, from which a lock of hair came out – many women and men went down in square, in Iran and the rest of the world, to shout their indignation.
The protests, during which many demonstrators symbolically cut their hair in memory of Mahsa, were further strengthened following the killing of Hadith Najafi, the girl who by now represented a symbol of the struggle of Iranian women to obtain freedom, rights, the end of the prohibitions and rigid prescriptions imposed by the Islamic Republic. A video had gone viral in which 20-year-old Hadith tied her hair in a ponytail, without wearing a veil, preparing to participate in the parades. “Resuming a request from some members of the Milanese Iranian community, today we are launching an initiative to protest against the murders and unacceptable violence that are affecting young women and young men who in Iran are asking to restore a minimum degree of freedom and civilization – explains the president of Triennale Milano, Stefano Boeri – We invite you to leave a small lock of your hair tied with a rope in a special container in the entrance hall of the Palazzo dell’Arte. An act that is inspired by that courageously carried out by Iranian women in the squares of the main cities “.
The collected locks will then be delivered to the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran, “as a peaceful gesture of protest against the murderous police violence – concludes Boeri – and of solidarity with those who are risking their lives these days to defend the inalienable right to individual freedom “.