TÁHIRIH

ca. 1810s–1852, Qazvin, Iran. Born Fátimih Baraghání

Táhirih was a poet, theologian, scholar and one of the most extraordinary women to emerge from nineteenth-century Iran.

Born into a prominent religious family, she received an unusually extensive theological education for a woman of her time and became a leading figure in the revolutionary religious movement founded by the Báb.

But Táhirih wasn't content simply to believe that a new age of equality was possible: She behaved as though it had already begun.

At the Conference of Badasht in 1848, Táhirih appeared before the assembled men unveiled. Some were horrified, some fled, others questioned their faith.

Her unveiling was more than the removal of a piece of fabric. It challenged established boundaries around gender, religious authority and women's participation in public life and proclaimed something larger: the old order was ending and something new had begun.

There is a profound difference between believing change should happen and living it. Táhirih crossed that distance.

Her religious and intellectual independence came at enormous cost. In 1852, amid the persecution of the Bábí community, she was executed by strangulation.

Tradition attributes to her a final declaration: “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”

Táhirih understood that an idea, once embodied, becomes difficult to contain.

In this Garden of Even™ portrait, Táhirih stands on the scales of justice, connecting her nineteenth-century challenge to the unfinished struggle for women's equality in Iran today. Around her, women from different eras remind us that the clothing may change, but the question endures: Who gets to decide how women live, what they believe and who they are allowed to become?

EXPLORE THE WORK

A stylized collage artwork with a central woman in a red patterned dress and headscarf standing before a golden scale, flanked by a robed figure on the left and a robed figure on the right. The background shows a scenic archway, domes, and a crowd.

During Muharram—a sacred period of mourning in Shi'a Islam traditionally associated with sombre dress—Táhirih was reported to have appeared in brightly coloured clothing. Rather than mourn, she was celebrating the new religious age she believed the Báb had announced. Her clothing became another expression of her conviction: Táhirih didn't simply believe a new age was coming. She dressed as though it had already arrived.

There are no known authenticated portraits of Táhirih. Her likeness here references a later work by artist Ivan Lloyd depicting the 1848 Conference of Badasht, where Táhirih appeared before the assembled men unveiled. The moment became one of the defining images of her life: a woman making visible the new world she already believed had begun.

The scales connect Táhirih's nineteenth-century lived experience to the unfinished struggle for women's equality in Iran today. Nearly two centuries after her death, Iranian women continue to challenge laws and social restrictions governing their clothing, movement, family life and participation in public life. The symbol asks us to consider how much has changed—and how much of the future Táhirih imagined is still waiting to be lived.

White Lillies

White lilies surround Joan, echoing the fleur-de-lis of France and the royal cause she fought for. The lily would also become associated with Joan herself, symbolizing the purity and devotion later emphasized in images of Saint Joan. Alongside them grow daisies—simple wildflowers that return us to the girl beneath the legend. Before she was a soldier, heretic or saint, Joan was a peasant girl from rural France. Together, the flowers hold both sides of her story: the ordinary girl and the extraordinary figure she became.

RECONSIDER

Táhirih's unveiling is often remembered as an act of rebellion, but it was also an act of faith.

She didn't simply imagine a different future. She had the conviction to begin living according to it before the world around her was ready.

Nearly two centuries later, her story turns the question toward us:

What do you believe about the future strongly enough to begin living now?

Imagine the future you believe in, then have the courage to live as though it's already here.

Táhirih Fine Art Limited Edition Print

$1,300.00 CAD

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In 19th-century Persia, Táhirih was a poet, scholar, theologian, and revolutionary thinker at a moment when women's lives were governed by strict expectations. She dared to imagine a different future—one in which women could exercise intellectual and spiritual authority and participate as equals.

This Garden of Even™ portrait of Táhirih is a daily reminder that a different future begins with the courage to imagine it—and the conviction to live as though it is already possible.

Artwork in collaboration with Moonjube.