Like all gallery owners, Orkideh Daroodi closed the doors of her Tehran venue in October to show her support for the pro-democracy demonstrations that were escalating.

Her decision to reopen six weeks later for an exhibition by three female artists triggered an immediate backlash, with red paint doused on the front of the gallery.

“I was accused of normalising” the situation in Iran, said Daroodi, 40, who owns O Gallery, one of the country’s leading visual art venues. “But our lives have not become normal and none of us are the same as we were before,” she continued. “How can anyone help the protest movement by not working? If we choose to close our doors in the private sector, and stay in our homes and studios, we only become more isolated.”