Boundless Spirit: Iranian Women Artists
Phaidon, 2026
Mohammed Afkhami, with a foreword by Shirin Neshat and texts by Mahnaz Afkhami, Negar Azimi, and Natasha Morris
Boundless Spirit is a major art survey that explores the contributions of 101 contemporary women artists from Iran and its global diaspora from the late 1960s until now. I am included alongside artists whom I deeply admire: Marjane Satrapi, Behjat Sadr, Nazgol Ansarinia, and many others.
I was commissioned to create the original artwork for the book cover and endpapers. I drew upon two main sources of imagery: the infinitely repeating geometric patterns used in tilework on palaces and mosques, and the photographs and videos of women throwing their headscarves into large bonfires during Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom rebellion in 2022-23.
Many of the artists, writers, and curators who contributed to this book did so during a war waged against Iranians; externally by the United States and Israel, and internally by the Islamic Republic against its own people. Both wars continue. Boundless Spirit will be out October 7, 2026 and is available to pre-order here.