A field of poppies stretches before Mount Damavand, the dormant volcano just north of Tehran, beneath which the mythological tyrant Zahhāk lies in chains. In the foreground, a scattering of red tulips (or laleh / لاله) is suspended in mid-air, their blossoms still unopened. Both the Damavand and the tulips are ancient Persian symbols of resistance against tyranny. Throughout Iranian history, these flowers have been used to commemorate fallen protestors, red with bloodshed, their bulbs returning each spring like the persistence of those who continue to stand against oppression. During their rise to power, the Ayatollah’s regime co-opted the tulip as a state emblem. Since then, leftists movements have defiantly used the flower in their protests, reclaiming it from authoritarian control and returning it to its revolutionary roots. With Laleh, Sheida Soleimani brings the tulip back to its origins, the mountain range where it grows wild, and inspires human cycles of struggle and renewal.