At IWIN (Iranian Women in Network), our core programs are rooted in the belief that art is both a tool for healing and a voice for justice. We offer culturally responsive, trauma-informed spaces where women and youth—particularly from Iranian, Afghan, and immigrant communities—can process experience, express identity, and build community. We aim to inspire the next generation to discover the artist within—and to see creative expression not only as healing, but also as a possible career path.

Transformative Art workshops use visual and tactile practices—painting, textile art, clay, collage, and gentle movement or yoga-based practices—to foster emotional healing, identity exploration, and self-worth. Offered in schools, refugee centers, and clinics, these workshops have served over 400 participants, including Afghan girls, refugee mothers, and immigrant youth. Active in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Activism Through Art channels community voices into powerful public works: community quilts composed of 18-piece panels, often featuring multilingual messages and personal stories. These works are fully inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt project. In 2025, we launched our own collaborative AIDS Memorial Quilt initiative, exhibited at San Francisco City Hall, Yerba Buena Center, Golden Gate Park, and other prominent Bay Area spaces—reaching over 1,000 community members and allies. To date, we have collected over 600 quilt pieces globally and assembled 52 completed panels. While this work is centered in San Francisco, it has been exhibited as far as Long Beach University and Sacramento County.

Our work is as an emerging grassroots and collaborative, led by immigrant women artists,. IWIN’s founder—a polio survivor paralysis in both legs—is an Iranian engineer, single mother, and lifelong advocate. She is currently training as a lay counselor, deepening IWIN’s capacity to integrate emotional support. Through art, we build spaces of healing, expression, and belonging—one story, one workshop, and one quilt at a time.