Mahka Eslami Artwork

Tehran-Berlin, Mahka Eslami, 2018.

I first met Hedieh and Hana on Tehran’s “Berlin Street”—a Friday urban oasis where the city’s youth gathered over shared omelets and steaming tea. In them, I saw a quiet strength, a fragile freedom, and a subtle yet determined fierceness. They were among those who reinvent the rules and carve their own paths—a story I began documenting in 2019, before life circumstances took me away from Iran in the years that followed.

Along that bustling street in the heart of Tehran, they and their circle of friends embodied resistance through their everyday existence. The ink on their skin, the glint of metal piercings, their vibrant hair colors, and Western-style clothing spoke volumes without words. These were not mere fashion statements but manifestos of attitude—declarations of belonging to an alternative world and a deliberate departure from the traditions upheld by previous generations.

They were part of a youth who, long before the world took notice of Iran’s revolutionary spirit, were already experimenting with new forms of freedom. They tested boundaries and planted seeds for a future where women could breathe freely and assert themselves without fear.

When the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising erupted in 2022 following Mahsa Zhina Amini’s death, their faces immediately came to mind. I remembered their spirit, their way of claiming space, their unassuming yet powerful self-emancipation.

This photograph, part of my *Tehran-Berlin* series, captures a moment of unspoken defiance—evidence of those who prepared in the shadows of underground resistance for what would later erupt into a blinding light. It is a testament to their courage, which began as a whisper and grew into a collective roar.

They remind us that the visible moments of history are always preceded by invisible ones. These women were already there, challenging norms and reimagining possibilities, staunchly paving the way for long-awaited change.