Research Paper Shirin Neshat 3
Kylee Titensor
CE Art History
Ms. Huss
May 18, 2015
Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat, an Iranian women, was born on March 26, 1957 in a small city Qazvin, Iran. She is known for her work in film, video, and photography, and has devoted much of her work to issues concerning gender roles in post-revolutionary Islamic society. She embraced feminism at an early age, encouraged by her father, who insisted that his daughters have the same access as anyone else when it came to education, travel, and life experiences. At the age of seventeen, she was sent to the United States to complete her education. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution would prevent her from returning to her country of origin for twenty years. She attended the University of California and received a BA, then moved to New York, where she began working at the Storefront for art and Architecture. Even though Neshat had studied art in college, arriving in New York commenced a break from art-making until 1993, when she went back to Iran. The past 15 years, Neshat has created provocative expressions drawn on her personal experiences, and the widening political and ideological rift between the West and Middle East. She’s the most famous contemporary artist to emerge from Iran. Her frequent visits to Iran after the revolution led to the creation of a body of work which rocketed Neshat’s artistic career. Due to the controversial nature of her art, Neshat has not been able to return to her country since 1996. Titensor 2 Neshat’s most famous work of art was Women of Allah (1993-1997), which is a series of photographs depicting women in veils carrying guns with their skin covered in Islamic poetry. These images emulated her sense of how the revolution had changed, especially affecting the lives of women seeking freedom, rebelling in martyrdom and militancy, and also how it had changed the Iran that she once knew. Neshat began experimenting with film and video installations in 1998, when she met Iranian
CE Art History
Ms. Huss
May 18, 2015
Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat, an Iranian women, was born on March 26, 1957 in a small city Qazvin, Iran. She is known for her work in film, video, and photography, and has devoted much of her work to issues concerning gender roles in post-revolutionary Islamic society. She embraced feminism at an early age, encouraged by her father, who insisted that his daughters have the same access as anyone else when it came to education, travel, and life experiences. At the age of seventeen, she was sent to the United States to complete her education. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution would prevent her from returning to her country of origin for twenty years. She attended the University of California and received a BA, then moved to New York, where she began working at the Storefront for art and Architecture. Even though Neshat had studied art in college, arriving in New York commenced a break from art-making until 1993, when she went back to Iran. The past 15 years, Neshat has created provocative expressions drawn on her personal experiences, and the widening political and ideological rift between the West and Middle East. She’s the most famous contemporary artist to emerge from Iran. Her frequent visits to Iran after the revolution led to the creation of a body of work which rocketed Neshat’s artistic career. Due to the controversial nature of her art, Neshat has not been able to return to her country since 1996. Titensor 2 Neshat’s most famous work of art was Women of Allah (1993-1997), which is a series of photographs depicting women in veils carrying guns with their skin covered in Islamic poetry. These images emulated her sense of how the revolution had changed, especially affecting the lives of women seeking freedom, rebelling in martyrdom and militancy, and also how it had changed the Iran that she once knew. Neshat began experimenting with film and video installations in 1998, when she met Iranian