In contrast to the secular tradition of the meykhana, Ashura illustrates a deeply religious yearly event where Shia Muslims gather to mourn the tragic death and martyrdom of Imam Huseyn during the 7th-century battle of Karbala. Iman’s fascination with the event began when she read an excerpt from the novel Ali and Nino by Kurban Said, first published in 1937, which tells of a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku in the years 1914–1920. Iman says of the passage in the book that inspired her: “The scene described Ali getting hypnotized by the shouts of men on the street beating themselves on the back with their fists or metal chains, and running outside to join them. The excerpt was written so beautifully that I became fascinated by Ashura, watching archive footage and researching it”. Iman took elements from video and photographic imagery of an Ashura taking place in a mosque in Nardaran, Azerbaijan in 2014. The artist intends this to be the first in a series of canvases on the same topic.

Ulviyya Iman (b. 2007) is a multidisciplinary artist from Azerbaijan currently based in Prague, Czech Republic. Exploring themes of local daily scenes, she often highlights gender roles in society. Iman garners inspiration from her trips to the regions of Azerbaijan, working both from memory and imagination. In her paintings of bright characters and food, Ulviyya explores the everyday iconography of contemporary society. As an emerging artist, Iman exhibits the potential to make a lasting impact on both the Azerbaijani and global art landscapes. Her work has featured in Art Dubai (2025) a group exhibition Once a Sea, YARAT, Baku (2025) and Her Art In Action, Gazelli Art House, Baku (2024).