Selkirk snow sculpture depicts Iranian woman 'enjoying freedom': Manitoba sculptor

A Manitoba sculptor wanted to send a message to his home country, even if that meant working outside while temperatures dropped to close to –25 C.

Retired sculptor Majid Kermani spent 11 hours creating a nine-foot high sculpture of an Iranian woman embracing freedom in the front yard of his Selkirk, Man., home around Christmas. He says he built the sculpture to increase awareness around the hostilities the Iranian regime is carrying out against women.

"I tried to picture a girl who is having a sense of relief, with open arms and breathing heavily, just to show that she wants freedom. She is enjoying freedom," Kermani said Sunday.

"That is the icon of many of these protests in Iran. They want life and freedom for women. That's probably the most important slogan that they have in Iran."

He said it was challenging to sculpt the woman, as he often had to stand on tall ladders with several sculpting tools. Carving out intricate details in the woman's face was especially difficult, he said.

Kermani is no stranger to creating sculptures in an effort to raise awareness around an international subject.

In January 2020, he crafted another snow sculpture in memory of the victims of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752, which was shot down by an Iranian missile amid tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

One hundred seventy-six people aboard that plane lost their lives, and Kermani knew three of them.

"This time, I realized that there are so many things going on back in Iran … so i thought I have to make something for that occasion," he said.

Pouya Farokhzad, president of the University of Manitoba Iranian Students Association, said Kermani's sculpture sends a unique message.

"I think so many different people can have sympathy with the essence of that artwork. I think both people in Iran and in Canada could have sympathy with the [calls for] freedom and with women's rights," Farokhzad said.

"It's a great way to raise awareness and support the movement that is currently going on right now in Iran."

There have been rallies and protests in Winnipeg, other Canadian cities and locations around the world following the death of Masha Amini, 22, after she was detained in Tehran for allegedly violating a strict dress code law.

"It's a situation where many aren't happy with it, but they are trying to change to have a new way of life," Kermani said.

His parents and siblings still live in Iran, and he communicates with them and other friends there regularly. 

He isn't sure what more other countries can do to stop the violence of the Iranian regime, but he does believe more can be done, particularly among western countries, as well as through the United Nations.

"I believe women all over the world, particularly in Middle East countries, have all the rights to enjoy the life," Kermani said.

"I am hoping that sometime, someday in the future, all these women around the world will be treated equally [like] men."