Mastaneh Azarnia

Mastaneh Azarnia is an Iranian artist from the Kurdish minority who faces systematic persecution. At the age of 25, she fled from Iran to Australia by boat alone and lived in offshore detention on Nauru for more than seven years. She was also imprisoned in onshore detention centers for about six months on Christmas Island and 14 months in Melbourne. She commenced her creative expression on Nauru through a series of paintings and her work won the Home Exhibition Award.