Video: "Women of Allah": Shirin Neshat on the role of women in the Islamic world
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Shirin Neshat is an Iranian photographer and filmmaker based in the United States. The world fame was brought to her by a series of photographs "Women of Allah", in which the author explores and destroys stereotypes about the life of women in the Muslim world.
Shirin Neshat was born and raised in Iran, but after graduation she decided to continue her studies in the United States. The Islamic revolution that broke out at that time turned into exile for Shirin: she was able to return to her homeland only in 1990. The woman did not recognize the country that had radically changed over two decades: “Before, we lived in an open and free society, somewhere in the middle between the West and the East - both in appearance and in lifestyle. When I returned, everything was different. There was less color: black and white dominated. All women wore a veil. I was shocked. " Therefore, the work of Shirin Neshat, by her own definition, is "the naive look of an artist living abroad, who has returned and is very sincerely trying to understand."
Although Shirin Neshat's work touches on important political and social aspects of Iranian society, she considers herself primarily an artist rather than an activist. Her works are an invitation to dialogue and reflection, not a call to action. “There is a stereotype that all Eastern women are obedient victims, but this is not so. I subvert this statement, showing as subtly and sincerely as possible how strong they are,”says the author. In "Women of Allah" Shirin depicts traditionally dressed oriental women (Neshat herself posed), on whose open areas of the body are in Persian script inscribed in Farsi from Iranian feminist erotic poetry. The heroines of Shirin Neshat's photographs often hold weapons in their hands: this is how the author shows the impossibility of separating religion and spirituality from politics and cruelty.
And the biggest paradox of Shirin Neshat's works is that, according to the author, the people of Iran can best understand the meaning of her "Women of Allah". But alas, in Iran itself, Neshat's creativity is prohibited.
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