Who We Are
Elahe Zivardar, also known as Ellie Shakiba, is an Iranian American artist, architect, journalist, writer, poet and documentary filmmaker who was imprisoned by the Australian government in the Republic of Nauru from 2013 to 2019 after seeking asylum. She was granted refugee status and resettled in the United States in 2019.
During her detention, she began painting The Border-Industrial Complex, a series depicting the stories, resistance, and lived realities of refugees held in the offshore detention center on Nauru. She also documented the conditions of detention through photography and video. In November 2018, she played an active role as a photographer and videographer in the Kids Off Nauru campaign, which helped bring international attention to the detention of more than 150 refugee children and their families and contributed to ending their detention.
These materials later informed a realistic 3D model she created using architectural software between 2021 and 2024 for a documentary film analyzing what she describes as the architecture of torture within the Nauru detention system.
Her artwork, writing, and poetry have appeared in academic journals, books, covers, and magazines. Her visual language—characterized by geometry, composition, proportion, bold color, and juxtaposition—draws strongly from Iranian artistic and architectural heritage, poetry, and mythology.
Zivardar views painting her lived experiences as both a process of healing from trauma and a way to raise global awareness while amplifying the voices of those with the least power and visibility.
In 2023, she received an honorable mention for her painting series from the UN Human Rights Council’s (OHCHR) International Art Contest for Minority Artists in Geneva Switzerland.
Her collaborative animation project, Removed, based on qualitative research into the gendered harms of immigration detention in the UK, has been selected for the Northampton Film Festival 2026.
She continues to advocate against offshore detention and similar policies through her art, documentary filmmaking, animation, journalism, public speaking, and by advising refugee rights campaigns across Australia, the UK, and the European Union.
Mehran Ghadiri, husband of Elahe Zivardar, worked in Nauru in 2015 and again from 2018 to 2020 in economic development and community engagement roles within the Australian offshore border regime. He also has years of first-hand experience working in a broad range of roles supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to resettle in Australia. With his background in political science and international relations, as well as his unique insights into the inner workings of Australia’s refugee system both offshore and onshore, he brings a comprehensive understanding of the global interests that exacerbate and manipulate refugee flows for financial and political gain. Ghadiri is currently authoring a detailed analysis of the political, economic and societal effects of Australia’s policies in Nauru, as well as producing a documentary film on this topic with Elahe Zivardar.