STUDENT AFFAIRS

New Mural Brings Color and Memory to the Multicultural Center

Celebrating SWANA heritage and remembrance, the mural transforms a student space into a place for reflection and cultural connection

Inside the Multicultural Center, gray walls give way to a mural of blooming tulips, each distinct and carrying stories of memory, loss and identity. The mural, unveiled April 17, was initiated by Aliah Ajamoughli, PhD, assistant director, Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA), to better reflect the vibrancy of the students the space serves.

“Our communities are vibrant, bright and full of color and life, whereas the walls were gray,” Ajamoughly said. So, MSA commissioned an artist to bring the space to life.

March is Persian Heritage Month, and April is Arab Heritage Month, Armenian Heritage Month, and Assyrian Heritage Month, making the mural’s installation especially timely for art celebrating SWANA cultures.

“So many of our students need support on campus,” Ajamoughli said. “I want them to be able to walk into the space and feel comfortable being themselves—to laugh, to cry, to scream, to whisper, whatever they want to do.” 

MSA turned to Farnaz Khosh-Sirat, an Iranian artist based in Chicago. Khosh-Sirat, who previously led a workshop at Northwestern, was a natural choice for the project. Her mural centers on tulips, a symbol deeply embedded in Iranian culture.

According to Khosh-Sirat, tulips have long carried symbolic meaning in Iran, particularly as a tribute to those who lost their lives to injustice.

“In Iran, we have a symbol where youth who pass away due to injustice, a tulip grows where they passed away,” Khosh-Sirat said.

The shape of the tulip also carries meaning. Its form is “very similar to a drop of blood,” said Khosh-Sirat, contributing to the flower’s association with death and remembrance.

Khosh-Sirat explained that each tulip in the mural looks different as well. “Every person was a unique individual, and it won’t be copy-pasted,” she said.

The mural sits in a conference room where students can come to reflect, meditate and think.

“It is a concept that can be placed onto so many different communities, as so many cultures have this beautiful interaction with nature,” Khosh-Sirat said. “Tulips are subtle, powerful, connect to culture and roots and bring a voice to people who are voiceless right now.”

Khosh-Sirat also hopes the tulips will spread as symbols of remembrance for those who stood for justice. The mural is titled in Farsi, “In Memory of You” and is accompanied by a poem written in Farsi on the wall beside it.

“Let this mural be an invitation to all students to reflect on those they’ve lost in their communities and the ways they can turn beauty out of that loss, the ways they can walk in their footsteps and see blossoms of the future ahead of them,” Ajamoughli said. “We are all connected through this. We have all experienced loss or may experience it. So how can we find connections rather than differences?”