The Solidarity Forest

The Solidarity Forest was created for the collaborative project Iranian Diaspora: Stories of Sanctuary and Solidarity, as a symbolic 

representation of the fact that, much like trees in a forest, although each is an individual and different tree, in order to survive, it still 

depends on the network of roots and Mycenae that connects all the trees of the forest together. It is the same with us humans, although we are all individuals, with different characters, ideas, beliefs and ways of seeing and understanding the world, we still depend on one another to survive and thrive, so true Solidarity among each other is essential and vital. 

To create the Solidarity Forest, the artist (Lola Awada) first created a set of "tree maquettes," which were then handed to workshop 

participants, in order for them to individualise their tree, as they saw fit. The artist then enhanced some of the trees, created a few more on her own, and connected all the trees together by the roots, some of which were broken on purpose, to symbolically represent the 

inevitable inner rupture experienced by anyone who is forced to leave their homeland.