Shirin Neshat
Seeds of Change
Women of Allah Series, 1994. © Shirin Neshat.
“With each image and film still, she increases our depth of understanding one another, and inadvertently unleashes our potential for compassion.”
– Rhea Khanna
AN ARTICLE BY GUEST WRITER: RHEA KHANNA
If you’ve ever wondered how art can create change that endures, waves of lasting value that sweep across nations, I’d go knocking on Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat’s door. And if that’s a little hard to do—I get it, even cold-emailing gives me night sweats—we could start together right here with a moment of collective realization. A realization that art doesn’t live in the art world, and it never planned on living in the art world. It’s birthed there, but like all living things, it grows its own wings, leaves the nest, and eventually finds a new home of its own. A home in a heart, a home in a nation, or a home in a cause. And Shirin Neshat? She knows exactly where her winged pieces of art are flying. And so, she sends them with messages. Messages of perception, compassion, and of lasting change.
One of the mightiest voices in contemporary art, Neshat has notably dedicated her practice to reminding us of the power in human life. Power in the human experience. And an equal amount of power in understanding one another. A warm, gentle embrace.
© Shirin Neshat.
Rebellious Silence, 1994 (From Women of Allah)
Shirin Neshat
Through photography, video, and film, Neshat intimately captures the private and public experiences of women in contemporary Muslim societies. As an Iranian-born, New York-based artist upended by the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970s, Neshat uses her own experience as an artist in exile, while exploring the concept of Islamic femininity and what it means across the East and West.
This is seen in one of her most notable works, “Women of Allah,” her very first photographic series featuring women in chadors bearing various arms, referencing the involvement of Iranian women in the Iran-Iraq War and Revolution. Flowing across the faces and bodies of her subjects are calligraphic poetry, taken from the works of prominent feminist Iranian poets, like Forugh Farrokhzad and Tahereh Saffarzadeh. Women. Gazing at us, dialoguing with us, and opening our eyes.
These breathing pieces of thunderous quality zap our inner presumptions into awareness with more vigor than any defibrillator in the world. A string of contrasts beating steadily. Liberation, submission, solidarity, vulnerability. Power. That’s right, the women she depicts aren’t symbols of oppression. They’re layered beings with their own goals, emotions, thoughts, and ideas. Their presence, now, finally established.
© Shirin Neshat.
Untitled, 1996 (From Women of Allah)
Shirin Neshat
© Shirin Neshat.
Unveiling, 1993 (From Women of Allah)
Shirin Neshat
Although she explores the intersection of politics, religion, and identity, Neshat’s aim extends far beyond making a political statement and instead, focuses on our humanity. Humanness, that we let go unseen.
Neshat continues to uncover the layers of human experiences and pluck the weeds of prejudice within us. What are the experiences we don’t see upfront? The ones we don’t pay heed to… the ones we think we know. The “feminine” experience, the immigrant experience, the experience of the “other.” With each image and film still, she increases our depth of understanding one another, and inadvertently unleashes our potential for compassion.
Isn’t this where the seeds of peace lie—in understanding the stories, emotions, thoughts, and ideas of communities beyond our own? Through her empowering portrayals of Muslim women, Neshat not only uplifts the lives of her subjects, but uplifts the power of humanism within all of us. Her art is a gilded bridge, one so intricately engineered that we don’t quite grasp how it holds our weight—and yet, it supports and carries us to a destination within us that Neshat knew of all along.
© Shirin Neshat.