Girls of the Iranian Diaspora
Reimagining Community in a Fragmented Diaspora

Girls of the Iranian Diaspora is a series initiated by Sachli Gholamalizad, bringing together artists from the Iranian diaspora whose practices often exist alongside one another, yet rarely meet.

Spread across countries, languages and contexts, many live and work in a form of distance where connection is not always a given. In a time when the reality in and around Iran is deeply felt, yet not always shareable, another kind of distance emerges; one that affects how we gather, mourn, celebrate, and care for one another.

This evening begins from the need to create space for that again.

Not to represent, but to exist alongside one another.
Not as one voice, but in multiplicity, difference, and proximity.

The programme moves between reading, performance and music, brought together as a shared gathering and concludes with a conversation between the artists, inviting reflection and exchange with the audience.

Participating artists:
Tara Fatehi (UK)

Tara Fatehi is a performance artist working across voice, movement, and text. Born in Tehran, and based in London, her politically charged practice is entangled with everyday banality, unfolding through multivocality, unfinishedness, ambiguity, and play. Her work draws on histories, archives, found dance, and rebellious spectral voices. She has performed at Southbank Centre, V&A Museum, Nottdance, Montpellier Danse, ICA, and Oslo Dansens Hus, as well as in parks, streets, warehouses, and galleries. She is co-founder of From the Lips to the Moon, an ongoing experimental music and spoken word night; author of Mishandled Archive (LADA, 2020), a series of 365 public interventions; and vocalist with People of the Wind (Akazib, 2025).

A performance of poetic fragments, songs, sitting and moving with discomfort, in awe, and grief and how detached is this body from those bodies, and from those. 

Mina Etemad (NL)

Mina Etemad is a journalist, podcast maker, and theatre and dance critic for de Volkskrant. What we carry with us from the past and how we use it to shape the present is a recurring theme in her writing. She also explores animal rights and analyzes human-animal relationships in art, media, and society, including in her newsletter Dier en Perspectief. In February 2026, her literary memoir De zangvogel - Over Iran, ontheemding en een schuldgevoel dat nooit verdwijnt was published by Uitgeverij Thomas Rap.

Ali Kalantary (DE)

Ali Kalantary is a dynamic composer and performer originally from Tehran, now based in Berlin, who seamlessly blends the worlds of music and other performing arts to create a unique space for exploration and expression. With a passion for delving into the complexities of human emotion, Ali crafts immersive soundscapes that resonate with themes of desire, power dynamics, and liberation, drawing from their personal experiences as a trans-femme person of color with diverse cultural backgrounds.

Since beginning her musical career in 2012, Ali has experimented with various instruments and genres, honing her craft by composing for theater productions. Her innovative musical style incorporates elements of Iranian traditional music, experimental electronic music, and contemporary minimalism, utilizing looping techniques and drawing inspiration from Farsi Sufi poetry and other art forms. 

Ali's work is characterized by its distinctive sound that merges Iranian traditional and Sufi music with live modulation to create experimental noise textures. Deeply personal and socially engaged, her compositions promote critical thinking and feeling, challenge societal hierarchies, and advocate for social justice and diversity from an intersectional trans-feminist perspective. Captivating audiences with her innovative approach, Ali's artistry defies categorization and invites exploration of complex emotional landscapes.

Hosted and curated by Sachli Gholamalizad.