The Skies She Didn’t See: Paintings & Poetry
by JEAN WILKEY and SANDRA LYNN HUTCHISON
The following collaborative art project by painter Jean Wilkey and poet Sandra Lynn Hutchison is dedicated to Mona Mahmoudnejad, Roya Eshraghi, Simin Saberi, Shirin Dalvand, Akhtar Sabet, Mashid Niroumand, Zarrin Moghimi-Abyaneh, Tahereh Arjomanadi Siyavashi, Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie, and Ezzat-Janami Eshrahgi.
Jean’s paintings were created in honor of the ten women executed in Shiraz on June 18, 1983 and in support of the #OurStoryIsOne campaign, and her art installation at the La Mecha Contemporary in El Paso was dedicated to Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, with the 665 skies in her solo show standing for each day both women had spent in prison since they were re-arrested in July 2022.
Sandra Lynn Hutchison selected ten of Jean’s paintings, then created the ten haiku that accompany them, one for each woman, by meditating on the colors and cloud formations in each painting, as she reflected on the courage and enduring legacy of each of the ten women.
An indigo sky
tinged with gold opens the door --
And you walk through it...
Ink bleeds into sky,
What pen can write your story?
This luminous tale...
Clouds rise from the fire,
The sky grows orange flowers --
You fall on petals.
Clouds pose a question
What vanishes, what remains?
And you, with us still...
Spring ignites a flame
in the heart of a blue sky --
Your breath moves the clouds...
Clouds almost touch hands,
Remember first light --
Your eyes meet the dawn.
The Beloved sweeps
with threads of pure light,
You are weaving still...
Now you hear the call,
June sky bursts. Crimson clouds --
You dance in the fire.
Blue sky with white streaks,
Bold fingers dispensing light --
You left without fear.
Look, the sky has eyes!
dizzying whirlpools of grace --
You dive into one...
