Shirin Abedi

● Nominees 2022

○● Shirin Abedi (1996). Born in Tehran, Shirin migrated to Germany at the age of seven. Since then, she has lived a parallel existence between two cultures. Her interest in photojournalism grew during her early teenage years and got more visible after she took her first class in photography in 2011. In 2016 she moved to Tehran for a year to understand her country of origin. She contributed as a freelancer to the BORNA News Agency in Tehran and explored the country with her camera and heart. Shirin works as a freelance photojournalist since 2018. She is mostly interested in topics around women's issues, identity and everyday heroes and their battles.

 Hannover, Deutschland
 Website

Invisible Students, “Through my biography, I have never been able to say no. That man has exploited a deep longing for contact and tenderness in me.” – Wolfgang Vogel was raped at the age of 15 by a family member. For a long time, he felt guilty for the accident, since he didn‘t say no. Today he thinks the reason was because he thought violence is a normal part of life. 22.05.2021, Dresden, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, One of the peaks of physical violence during his education was when classmates tried to baptize Wolfgang Vogel (52) in the school toilet. He can‘t remember details of the accident anymore. 21.05.2022, Dresden, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, “I was still invited to the birthday parties and was part of the clique, but they talked a lot behind my back. No matter what I did, I got my ass kicked. I was an outspoken, confident and stable girl, and the bullying destroyed that.” Alexandra Niemeyer (20, name changed) was bullied by her friends in 5th and 6th grade in northern Germany. After the summer holidays, she decided to find new friends and the bullying situation dispersed. 24.10.2020, Leipzig, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, Alexander Schütte (18) jumped on the 12/06/2018 at 8:50 a.m. from the window of his secondary school in Burg by Jerichow. He was bullied from primary school and suffered from depressions. 08.04.2021, Burg, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, In seventh grade, classmates spread rumors about Lina Meinhard (35, name changed) being raped. Strangely, she was the one blamed for it, not the boy who was the perpetrator of the story. Lina Meinhard started to cut her underarms and tried a suicide once. Since her family still doesn‘t know the details, she wants to remain anonymous. 28.02.2021, München, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, Katharina Grether (40) She was bullied from first to tenth grade at school in Stuttgart, Germany. 19.02.2022, Stuttgart, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, Lina Meinhard (35, name changed) lives nearby Munich, where she also attended school. After she and her boyfriend broke up, classmates started picking on her from seventh grade till her graduation in 9th grade. She recalls: “Nothing I did was right. They would hit me and say, a slap on the back of the head increases the ability to think.”, 26.02.2021, München, Germany. © Shirin Abedi

Invisible Students, When her son was entering school in 2011, Katharina Grether (40) started to remember her school traumas. She decided to write down her experiences and published two books. Today she gives workshops at schools in Stuttgart to teach children about their role in bullying and how they can help prevent it. 20.02.2021, Stuttgart, Germany. © Shirin Abedi