Voices of Iran

In January of 2026, something devastating happened to Iran and its people. Their own government turned on them in a massive way, and the only way to describe what happened is to call it a massacre. Anything less would be a disservice to the people who are no longer here. Then, in February, a war began with attacks from Israel and the United States, where more unnecessary death and destruction followed. Internet blackouts have also taken place, once in January and again (still ongoing) in February, blocking Iranians' access to social media, communication, and news. These blackouts have impacted us all in both personal ways and large scale, international ways as voices are blocked from being heard and information is being withheld.

So what can we do to support those who are there? How do we show up for Iran? Immediately these questions entered my mind, and as someone who has spent over five years in the NFT space, it became clear very quickly how many of my friends were silenced. The space felt empty and there was a black hole — and when you're constantly plugged into a community like this, trust me, the black hole reaches your heart. Where are my friends and where is their beautiful art? What's happening? Are they alive? I acted quickly to make a curation featuring Iranian NFT artwork available on the primary market and some on the secondary if they were completely sold out (so people can at least learn about them). This curation got a lot of support and made 124+ sales! But of course, as time goes on the artwork gets sold out eventually and with no new work, the primary market of these artists dwindles down to nothing.

While checking the X feed and seeing people in Iran share reports using VPNs on what's happening on the ground and what they are witnessing, a post really stuck out to me. "Be our voices." The gears inside me were turning — what if there was a zine NFT compiling Iranian voices who are silenced and buried? This could solve the lack of available art problem, too! I brought the idea up to my friends and almost immediately it became a full-blown project! Scott, RubisCO, Malicious Sheep, Yoeshi, and Aria (in Iran) became my trusted core team and they helped me by amplifying the project in spaces, marketing it, giving input and advice, organizing and creating the proper system to get people to sign up, as well as making sure that Farsi was properly translated and pasted correctly into the InDesign file.

It was decided that we would collect writing from Iranians and have volunteer artists sign up and create artwork inspired by their paired author. If the Iranian artists wanted to do both art and writing, they absolutely could. The reason for this is because I thought that creating art during this time may be more difficult than writing and I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to participate. We had about 45 people fill out our form to sign up and we received writing very quickly. The voices needed to be heard! Not only that, but a very surprising thing happened: 20 of the people in Iran opted to do both art and writing. They needed to create.

During this time, I was also talking to Ryan Tanaka, a Teia team member and organizer of TezCon, who fully and completely supported this project and with that support, it became a headliner for the convention! Scott and Malicious Sheep helped propel me in the right direction to receive grant money from the Teia Community Event funding initiative as well, which got approved to make the zine into a physical, printed format to distribute at the event along with a presentation.

It all sounds so smooth — and it was pretty smooth sailing for a time! When there was internet connection, we received art and writing within days of the sign-up long before the due dates. But that was very short lived when, in late February, the second blackout surge took place, which has not lifted still as I'm writing this and it is now June. We have not heard from 15 people since. In the beginning of this blackout time lag, I wanted to wait and wait until more people could make it into the zine. But as time continued with more silence, I had no choice but to call issue 1 a close as the deadlines for TezCon were nearing and we had to get this to print. I want to make it very clear: everyone that wants to be a part of Voices of Iran will make it into future issues. We will make as many issues as it takes to support as many people as we possibly can. This blackout has caused voices to go mute, feelings to be pushed down, and thoughts left in the dark. To be heard is imperative, and I want to especially ensure those 15 people are first in line.

Issue 1 of Voices of Iran features 13 Iranian artists living in Iran and 9 volunteer artists all kept anonymous for the safety of all those involved. 32 pages are filled with stories, messages, thoughts, poems, and more paired with thoughtful, emotional, and empathic artwork. I could not be more proud of this project and the brave people who took such a risk to participate and share such a level of vulnerability that I've never personally witnessed in my lifetime. I want to thank every single person who volunteered, who shared their life in Iran, who put themselves out there, who helped behind the scenes, who showed up for Iran, and just fully trusted the process. This community put their faith in me and this team of wonderful people and it is not taken for granted. Thank you immensely.

Each time someone collects this zine, the funds are evenly split to each Iranian artist and only the Iranian artists. No funding will go to me, my team, or anyone else. The project's purpose other than to amplify Iranian voices is to fund and support their lives directly. As you read the zine, it will be heavy and hard, but it will be very eye opening into a world that we as outsiders have no access to. Pace yourself with the work and allow yourself to feel.

Peace and Freedom for Iran.
— Erika Lamothe