Iranian painter Saye Sohrabi rose from the heart of repression to turn her canvas into a voice for silenced women. Migration wasn’t an escape, it was a rebirth; the awakening of a woman who redefines freedom through art, transforming pain into colour and silence into strength.
by Rola Zamzameh*, The Prisma
Saye Sohrabi, an Iranian painter and photographer and textile artist, portrays the feminine world with striking honesty and courage.
Emerging from a society where women’s voices have long been repressed, she learned to break silence with colour.
For Sohrabi, migration was not an ending but the beginning of a new journey—one that led her to rediscover freedom and identity.
In this conversation with The Prisma, she reflects on life in exile, her cultural roots, and painting as a language of resistance and rebirth.
Through her art, she builds a vivid bridge between pain and liberation, transforming personal struggle into universal expression.
Rola Zamzameh (RZ): What made you decide to leave Iran? Were you seeking freedom of expression, or were there other factors involved?
Saye Sohrabi (SS): As a woman born and raised in Iran, I always felt I couldn’t truly be myself. I longed for a place where I could live and work freely, without judgment or restriction. I wasn’t necessarily planning to move to a particular country, but I knew there must be somewhere I could live as a woman with both freedom and safety.
(RZ): Was there a moment that made you realize that freedom of speech and personal freedom were essential to you?
(SS): When I was younger, I didn’t have a clear understanding of freedom of expression—I just knew I was tired of gender inequality. As I grew older, I realized that freedom wasn’t just about speaking out, but about the way we live. That realization made me decide to migrate and never look back.
(RZ): How were your first years in Belgium?
(SS): They were extremely difficult. I was alone, without family or support, and had to rebuild my life from scratch—learning a new language, making friends, finding my path in a new society. Loneliness and cultural adjustment were challenging, but I had decided not to return, so I faced every hardship until I finally found my own way.
(RZ): You have said you migrated for “the freest form of artistic expression.” Do you believe complete freedom exists?
(SS): Freedom is mostly a state of mind. Many artists in free societies still struggle with inner limitations. I have full creative freedom in Europe, but audience reactions differ. Sometimes even Europeans find my paintings too dark or intense. So, complete freedom doesn’t exist—it’s always relative.
(RZ): Did your artistic style change after migration?
(SS): In Iran, although I studied art, I didn’t have a defined style.
After migrating, I was inspired by Picasso and began with Cubism but gradually found the courage to move into the surreal world, which became my main form of expression.
(RZ): Did migration give you the freedom to express experiences you couldn’t in Iran?
(SS): Absolutely. Living in a free country helped me understand both myself and my art. Without migration, I might never have pursued painting seriously. Freedom and respect for individuality allowed me to portray the painful experiences—my own and those of other women—honestly in my work.
(RZ): How do Western and Iranian audiences perceive your work differently?
(SS): Iranians often focus first on the nudity of the female figures, because in their culture the female body is taboo. Europeans tend to perceive the emotional or human message before the physical one. That’s the main difference between their perspectives.
(RZ): How do you deal with censorship and social judgement?
(SS): Censorship has always existed and has affected me deeply, but it has never stopped me. Even when my social media pages were shut down several times, I never gave up.
I have chosen my own path, not the one defined by society’s fear or judgement.
(RZ): How much of your Iranian identity remains in your art?
(SS): I’ve never tried to preserve a “national” identity; what matters to me is expressing the experience of being a woman in a repressive society.
Still, since I studied carpet design, I often use the colours and patterns inspired by Persian rugs in my paintings. In that sense, traces of Iranian art remain in my work.
(RZ): The theme of gender violence often appears in your paintings. Where does it come from?
(SS): It comes from my own pain and from the collective pain of women everywhere. These experiences unite us—it doesn’t matter where we were born. Sometimes such suffering can push a woman to the edge of existence. Art was what saved me.
(RZ): Do you think about the reactions your work might provoke?
(SS): Yes, but not to the extent that it influences my work. I do what I believe is right. I may not accept all criticism, but I always continue my work. Negative feedback cannot change my artistic path.
(RZ): If you define migration as a creative space, what opportunities and limits does it bring?
(SS): Migration offers space for reflection and fearless expression. It allows artists to think freely and pursue ideas deeply. Yet, limitations exist—many migrant artists must do other jobs to survive, leaving less time for creation. That’s a reality for artists everywhere.
(RZ): Have you ever imagined what your art would be like if you had stayed in Iran?
(SS): Not really. In Iran, I couldn’t even see myself as an artist. I loved painting, but that environment didn’t allow an artist’s mind to grow freely. I might have painted, but I wouldn’t have been an artist. True artistry, for me, requires freedom—and I only found that outside Iran.
(RZ): Do you combine Iranian and European cultures in your work?
(SS): Not in a cultural sense. What I combine is the dual life of a woman who has lived both in Iran and in the free world. My art reflects this coexistence of two lived realities.
(RZ): Does the sense of exile and longing appear in your work?
(SS): Yes. Migration, exile, and longing, all of these can serve as tools for expressing an artwork. I have drawn inspiration from these emotions in my works and have been able to create pieces that reflect solitude, estrangement, or even the distance from my homeland.
(RZ): Do you feel you live between two homes—one physical, one mental?
(SS): Perhaps. In my dreams, I often feel I’ve lived two lives: one past, one present.
This duality appears in my paintings, many contain both a “before” and a “now.” It’s like remembering a life that feels almost unreal yet still part of who you are.
(RZ): How can migration art create dialogue between cultures?
(SS): Migration art is a powerful bridge between cultures. Women artists in exile can tell stories that mainstream media rarely show. Such dialogue can bring Iranian women inside and outside the country closer, creating empathy and shared understanding.
(RZ): If you could curate an exhibition dedicated to migrant women artists in Europe, what would it explore?
(SS): I would choose the theme “Identity Through Time”—how migration transforms who we are as women and as artists, and whether that identity remains constant or evolves with our lives and art.
*Rola Zamzameh: Senior journalist at the European Commission and Parliament.
Images supplied by the author and authorized for free publication in The Prisma. See images here.
Via The Prisma
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