#shirin neshat
Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, from the ‘Women of Allah’ series, 1994 ♀️
Rapture Series by Shirin Neshat, 1999.
Raptureconsists of two projections shown on opposing gallery walls. One projection shows a group of men dressed alike in Western-style white shirts and black pants. The other shows a group of women wearing traditional Iranian dress, including the chador,which covers their heads and most of their bodies, and in some cases, the niquab, a face covering. Despite these garments, the viewer is able to decipher individual features and expressions.
The installation, which is 13 minutes long and shown in continuous loops, shows elegiac and meditative scenes of the two groups. As the women traverse landscapes of sand and stone, the men navigate the stone architecture of an ancient city. As the women cry out—whether in celebration or anger, it’s unclear—the men unroll Persian prayer rugs and quarrel. In the final scene, the women gather on a beach, where they maneuver a small boat into the crashing waves. As their bare feet break the sand surface, the hems of their chadors become wet with salt water. Ultimately, six women remain in the boat as it drifts out to the sea.
Although art historians reference Neshat’s upbringing in Iran and her experiences in the United States as a way to shed light on her body of work, Neshat herself is neither dogmatic nor clear about her intentions. “From the beginning,” she said in a 1999 interview with art critic Arthur Danto, “I made a decision that this work was not going to be about me or my opinions on the subject, and that my position was going to be no position. I then put myself in a place of only asking questions but never answering them.” [x]
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Acclaimed artist and long-time Sundance alum Shirin Neshat just opened her retrospective Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun AgainatThe Broad in Los Angeles.
Taking its title from a poem by Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, the exhibition (which presents over 230 photographs and eight immersive video installations works) offers a rare glimpse into the evolution of Neshat’s artistic journey as she explores topics of exile, displacement, and identity with beauty, dynamic formal invention, and poetic grace.
The exhibition is open now through February 16, 2020.
1: Shirin Neshat during Women Without Men Festival premiere, © 2010 Sundance Institute | Photo by Brandon Joseph Baker; 2: Shirin Neshat and Creative Advisor Naomi Foner during the January Screenwriters Lab; © 2003 Clayton Chase for Sundance Institute; 3: Artist Trustees Shirin Neshat and Charlayne Woodard (left, right) with Trustee Jeanne Donovan Fisher (center), during the Institute Board Retreat; © 2009 Fred Hayes for Sundance Institute.
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