Arts Initiative
At JINA Alliance, we believe that artistic expression is a vibrant and critical component of forward momentum for humanity.
As part of our mission to advocate for human rights, democracy and global security around the world, the JINA Alliance Arts Initiative provides a platform for emerging artists, performers, musicians, designers and other creatives to showcase their work, and connect artistic energy to meaningful tribute, pleas of the oppressed, and the uplifting of humanity through beauty.
The Connection Between Art, Human Rights and Democracy
A Voice for the Voiceless.
"[A]rt does not have the power to change the world directly or bring instant change like a miracle. Still, it has an indirect influence on society. Art changes people’s minds gradually, and then people bring positive change to society.
Art needs a society that understands it, feels the need for it and accepts its importance. Once art is felt, understood and its importance is accepted, then positive change will follow."
~ Shamsia Hassani, hailed as Afghanistan's first female graffiti artist
Our Artists
The artists featured in the Arts Initiative have shown a deep commitment to revealing the resilience and lived experience of victims of oppressive and unjust regimes.
Our featured artists recall history, preserve suppressed traditions, honor political dissidents, expose the tragedy of human rights abuses, and more. They help transcend pain, and promote empathy for human rights violations and appeals for justice around the world.
Donations to support the Arts Initiative are used to provide the artists with opportunities to showcase their work, receive financial support, develop new artistic works and achieve greater recognition.
Karla has over 30 years of experience in the arts, as a muralist, digital artist, sculptor and mosaic creator, among others. Karla is not only an artistic creative herself, she is an instructor, teaching others to improve their quality of life and cognitive function through art. She also creates exclusive commissioned pieces for private collectors, conjuring the imagination of others through her deep empathy and artistic vision. Her ability to connect heart, vision and cognition to art contribute to her broad artistic range, from sculpting to mosaic art, murals, paintings, and blended mediums.
In 2025, Karla was selected as one of two artists to develop a wall-scale graffiti art honoring Iranian rapper and political dissident Toomaj Salehi and the oppressed, but resilient, people of Iran. This work, shown here in background, will be on display from July through October 2025 at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center in Thailand.
Karla Mohtashemi (United States)
Instructor, painter, muralist, sculptor, graphic artist
Jahan began painting 25 years ago in Islamabad, Pakistan, before returning to her homeland of Afghanistan in 2002, where she completed her Fine Arts studies at Kabul University. She became a member of the Centre for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan in 2004, and in 2006 helped to establish the Centre for Women Artists in Kabul, as a platform for supporting emerging women artists.
Since fleeing Afghanistan in 2021 on one of the last flights out of the country, she has participated in countless art exhibitions, training workshops and seminars. She was a member of the India-Afghanistan Women Artists Show in 2018, the U.S. International Visitor Leadership Program Promoting Social Change in the Arts in 2019, held an exhibition at the Kennedy Center in 2022, and her art was featured at the Foley Gallery in New York in 2023.
Her introspective, heartfelt artwork resonates deeply with sense of loss, constant struggle, identity, and is informed by women’s social position, the limitations imposed on them, and the hidden energy longing for self-emancipation and freedom.
Jahan Ara Rafi (United States)
Painter, educator, portraitist, founder/artistic director
Born in Tehran, Iran, Shahrzad Orang is a multidisciplinary artist and digital activist based in Sydney, Australia. Through the persona artdeshaz, she transforms digital art, photography and mixed media into visual acts of resistance. Her work is deeply rooted in the Woman Life Freedom movement that erupted in Iran in 2022, and centers on the lived realities of women, political prisoners and the oppressed. She explores themes of grief, defiance, memory and collective trauma - channeling them into works that bear witness, disturb and provoke. Her layered compositions and bold forms question power and amplify unseen stories.
In 2025, Shahrzad was selected as one of two artists to develop a wall-scale graffiti art honoring Iranian rapper and political dissident Toomaj Salehi and the oppressed, but resilient, people of Iran. This work, shown here in background, will be on display from July through October 2025 at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center in Thailand.
Shahrzad Orang (Australia)
Multidisciplinary mixed media artist (protest, digital, graphic design, photography)
Ramin was born in Iran, and moved to the United States with his family at a young age, but returned to Iran in the 1990s with his family. In his early adulthood, he founded Hypernova, the first rock band out of Iran's music underground to get signed and tour around the world. With a great deal of international press behind them, Hypernova paved the way for a new generation of aspiring Iranian artists.
Ramin launched his solo career under the stage name King Raam in Toronto in 2011, with Songs of the Wolves, a personal and sincere album of love and loss, and a follow up album in 2013, His third EP, recorded in Tehran, had a successful North American and European tour. In 2017, he released his final album based out of Tehran.
In 2018, Ramin’s father, Kavous Seyed Emami, a prominent Iranian environmentalist, was arrested on false charges of espionage. Two weeks later, he was killed in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. Ramin and his brother were able to flee, but his mother was seized and held as a hostage for 582 days. After his father’s death, Ramin channeled his creative energy into a one-man storytelling performance called “Departure” about his father’s legacy, which he continues to tour today.
Ramin also has a podcast in Persian called "Masty o Rasty," and is currently on a theatre tour with British/Iranian writer and director Javaad Alipoor performing "Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World."
Ramin Seyed Emami (United States/Canada)
Singer, songwriter, theatre performer, story-teller, podcaster
