In a powerful new collaboration, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has helped create a series of fabric designs that tell a story of resilience, born from her six years of arbitrary detention in Iran. The project, titled Creativity in Conflict and Confinement, is a partnership between London's Imperial War Museum (IWM) and the iconic fabric department of Liberty.
From Prison Scraps to Museum Banners
When Zaghari-Ratcliffe finally returned home to London, among her few possessions was a small, hand-stitched patchwork cushion. Made on the single sewing machine available in Evin prison and pieced together from scrap material, it was a tangible product of the craft circle she formed with fellow inmates. "It's something very, very precious to me," she said. This profound personal artefact has now inspired a public exhibition.
At the project's launch this week, Zaghari-Ratcliffe wore a dress she had made from one of the three new fabrics, called Passage of Time. The green pattern visualises the repetitive nature of life in captivity, featuring white doves, Tehran's rooftops, the moon's phases, and passing seasons—views she glimpsed through cracks in her cell. "We used to say that they can take away the world you live in, but they can't take away what's happening in your mind," she reflected. "Holding on to that was how we survived."
Creativity as a Lifeline and a Form of Resistance
During her imprisonment, Zaghari-Ratcliffe sewed clothes for her young daughter. She was already familiar with Liberty fabrics, having collected them over the years and managed to have some sent to her. She shared these materials with other prisoners while learning skills like woodwork and knitting through a rehabilitation programme. "You might not have absolute freedom in your movement, but no one can control your imagination," she stated, defining the project's core theme.
The IWM collaboration draws on its vast collections to explore how people have historically used craft to retain dignity. One displayed item is a wooden figure made in 1919 by a disabled ex-soldier at the Lord Roberts Memorial Workshops. Professor Sir Simon Wessely, an IWM associate, noted the timeless link: "In the face of trauma and confinement, creativity helps restore agency, identity and hope."
A Legacy of Solidarity and Support
Alongside Passage of Time, the Liberty design studio created two other prints with Zaghari-Ratcliffe:
- Obscured Landscape: Layers geometric Liberty archive patterns over sketches by British war artist Anthony Gross.
- Stitch and Community: The most personal design, overlaying Liberty florals on private papers from generals and prisoners in the IWM collection, evoking the solidarity Zaghari-Ratcliffe felt.
"These fabrics cover so many elements... but more than anything else, solidarity," she said. "You're collectively enduring this pain and you got through it together."
The designs are now displayed on large banners at the IWM London's entrance and atrium, where they will remain until February 2026. They are also available to buy as scarves, ties, and pillowcases. Significantly, 225 metres of the fabric will be donated to the charity Fine Cell Work, which supports prisoners through paid craftwork, aiding rehabilitation.
For Liberty, a store that operated throughout the Second World War, the project taps into its own history of creativity under pressure. The free exhibition, Creativity in Conflict and Confinement, is now open at the Imperial War Museum, London.
