1989: Art student at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, active in the “New Forum”. Today she works as a painter, graphic artist, book illustrator, singer and poet, and since 2004 also as an art and language teacher.
Mona Ragy Enayat
I started studying art at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts in 1988. A year later, I joined the Monday demonstration. I was on the streets every Monday. I never missed a single demonstration. I was always there, even though it was sometimes dangerous… I felt very connected to the great art of the Leipzig School and the wonderful people at the Academy of Visual Arts. And then I felt the need to get involved politically – and then I joined the Neues Forum. […]
For me, the human being is a main topic, which is why I wrote my diploma thesis on the subject of “limitation”. About everything that limits people from being themselves; about dreams; about the separation of state and religion, about equal rights for women and men, about progressive ideas for a just future. I personally experienced racism more clearly at the time of reunification than before. And what is worse for me is the racism I experienced in institutions. On the street, a right-wing extremist says “I hate you” and everything is clear. More hurtful is “I have nothing against you, but…” e.g. at the job centre or at work, where it is “normally” not to be expected that you will be treated in a very clearly racist way. […]”
The entire interview plus photo collection will be available in the Open Feminist Democracy Archive | OfemDA, which is currently being created. See here