Returning to Iran: Mixed Identity, Belonging, and Diaspora Experience with artist Roxanne Cassehgari

In this episode, I sit down with Roxanne Cassehgari, a writer, photographer, and artist documenting the Iranian diaspora.We talk about growing up Iranian outside of Iran, navigating mixed identity, and the complicated relationship to a homeland you may not fully know but deeply long for. Roxanne shares about returning to Iran and how it reshaped her understanding of belonging, language, and self.We explore language loss, cultural disconnection, and the feeling of not being “enough,” alongside her work documenting diaspora stories through interviews and photography. From everyday objects to food and ritual, we reflect on how Iran continues to live within people across distance and generations.We also touch on the tensions between diaspora and homeland perspectives, and how migration, assimilation, and politics shape these experiences.This is a conversation about exile, memory, and the many ways people try to return.About RoxanneRoxane Cassehgari is an artist and photographer born in France to an Iranian father and Colombian mother. Alongside her artistic practice, she is a human rights lawyer and researcher. While law and research allow her to articulate questions about our world, photography is a space of freedom, a more intuitive terrain where she can explore what words cannot capture.  Her work explores diasporic memory, emotions linked to exile, and the transmission—or loss—of culture. Through a sensitive and personal approach, she also seeks to reflect on our relationship with the land: as our origin, our heritage, but also as a place where we root ourselves within the living world.In this episode, we explore...Growing up Iranian in the diasporaReturning to Iran after living abroadMixed identity and cultural belongingLanguage loss and reclaiming FarsiThe emotional impact of exile and disconnectionIranian diaspora identity across different countriesThe tension between diaspora and homeland perspectivesHow art and storytelling preserve cultural memoryEveryday ways people stay connected to Iran (food, objects, ritual)Mentioned in this episode:📕 Roxanne's project Le Retour (The Return)🏝️ Roxanne's project Exile is an Island🎧 Halva for the Heart episode with Afghan author and activist Mina Sharif📚 Your War Our Lives by Mina Sharif📚 The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan KamaliConnect with Roxanne📸 Follow Roxanne on Instagram📥 Submit your story to Roxanne’s project Exile is an IslandIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân