French-Iranian artist and activist Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel “Persepolis” brought home the struggle of the Iranian people to millions around the world, has died. She was 56.
A statement from the Élysée Palace announcing her death Thursday lauded Satrapi’s work, saying her work “captivated a global audience.”
“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and an artist deeply committed to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” the Élysée said.
Satrapi was born into a politically active leftist family on November 22, 1969 in Rasht in northern Iran. She was just 10 years old when the course of her life changed after a popular uprising toppled the Iranian monarchy and established the Islamic Republic.
Women’s and girls’ rights were restricted almost instantly after 1979 and for Satrapi, this meant having to wear the veil, being separated from her male school friends, and watching the adults in her life suffer from repressions.
Years later, she recalled how she and her female classmates removed their veils during recess to tie them together to make a skipping rope. She depicted that scene – and countless others – in “Persepolis”, her 2000 blockbuster graphic novel memoir that showed the revolution through a child’s eyes.
Satrapi’s rebellious streak – captured in “Persepolis” with touching honesty and humor – inspired her parents, who feared she’d get into trouble with the regime, to send her abroad in 1984.
She spent a few turbulent years in Austria, at one point becoming homeless and getting hospitalised with bronchitis, before coming back to Tehran to study art. She finished her studies and was briefly married, but left Iran permanently for France in 1994.
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
“Persepolis” was adapted into a film in 2007 – directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud – and won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Satrapi’s work spanned numerous graphic novels – which she preferred to call “comic books” and films. In 2019, she directed “Radioactive,” a British biographical drama film starring Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie.
But she was also an outspoken critic of Iran’s ruling establishment and a prominent supporter of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that emerged after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.
Iranian women human rights group, the Narges Foundation described Satrapi as “a fearless advocate for feminism, women’s rights” and as someone who “champion(ed) the struggles and resilience of Iranian women.”
Last year, she announced that she refused the French Legion of Honour, France’s highest national award, over what she called the nation’s “hypocritical attitude towards Iran.”
Satrapi was married to Mattias Ripa, who helped translate “Persepolis” into English and was closely involved in many of her projects. Ripa died last year, at the age of 52.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
