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Florence, 10.02.2025

The memory of the sacrifice of Mahsa Amini, a woman-symbol of the protests unleashed by the Iranian population against the regime after she was killed for not having worn the hijab correctly, will never be lost, but will remain present thanks to the realisation of the bronze sculpture with the martyr's face that - thanks to the organisation of the Florence Biennale, International Exhibition of Contemporary Art and Design, and with the patronage and contribution of the Region of Tuscany - will find its definitive location in Palazzo Guadagni Strozzi Sacrati, seat of the Regional Council.

On 17 February 2025, the bronze sculpture will be unveiled at 1 p.m. in the Sala del Pegaso (Piazza del Duomo 10, Florence). For the occasion, a media conference will be held to illustrate the project in detail and where the documentary film tracing the various ‘stages’ of the journey that led to the creation of the bronze work and its significance will be screened for the first time.

Scheduled for 10 December - World Human Rights Day - the presentation of the work was postponed due to the very serious accident at the Eni depot in Calenzano. 

The unveiling ceremony of the work has now been rescheduled and the conference on Monday 17 February will be attended by Eugenio Giani (President of the Tuscany Region), Jacopo Celona (Director of the Florence Biennale and President of the Artimino Contemporanea Association), Sarah and Giacomo Del Giudice (from the Fonderia del Giudice, which made the bronze casting), Claudia Chianucci, Elena Quirini and Rocco Spina (teachers of the sculpture class at the Liceo Artistico in Porta Romana, Florence), Laura Lozzi and Rita Lapi (respectively headmistress and president of the Liceo Artistico's school council) and Sabri Najafi (activist of the Iranian women's movement).

Unable to leave Norway for reasons related to their request for political asylum, Iranian artist Partin Bastan and his wife Marjan Najafi - authors of the first clay sketch of the work now transformed into a bronze sculpture - will connect live with Palazzo Guadagni Strozzi Sacrati during the conference.

A 16-month long project

It all began in October 2023, on the occasion of the XIV Florence Biennale, when the ‘I Am Mahsa’ space was set up at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, dedicated to Iranian women artists and especially in memory of the events that led to the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 and the birth of the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement.

In this context, the Iranian artist Partin Bastan and his wife Marjan Najafi took part in the XIV Florence Biennale, thanks also to the hospitality of the Robert F. Kennedy International House of Human Rights Foundation, and, before the eyes of thousands of visitors, hour after hour they modelled live the clay model depicting Mahsa Amini's face, a true homage to a symbol of transformation and struggle for freedom.

Once the Biennale was over - and indeed this project demonstrates how the ideas conceived during the event continued to develop well after the event was over - the model remained in Florence, becoming the ‘seed’ of a broader initiative that was slowly taking shape.

In January 2024, the model was delivered to the Liceo Artistico di Porta Romana, where the teachers of the sculpture class, Claudia Chianucci, Elena Quirini and Rocco Spina, took steps to make a plaster cast of it, useful for the subsequent bronze casting.

So, last September, the plaster model and latex cast were transferred to Fonderia Del Giudice, a historic Tuscan company in Strada in Chianti that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, which was willing to carry out the bronze casting.

Finally, now the last act of a virtuous journey almost 16 months ago: in agreement with the Region, the sculpture thus realised now finds its place in the spaces of the historic building in Piazza Duomo in Florence, placed on the elegant pietra serena base offered by the Frosini company of Lastra a Signa (FI), where it will remain as a memory and tribute to the action of a courageous woman, as well as a warning for the action of future generations.

Florence Biennale Media Office