Neshat’s work puts spotlight on Iranian women’s fight against oppression

The Iranian-American artist Shirin Neshat’s dark kohl-lined eyes are immediately recognisable. Now, she is bringing their gaze on Iranian and Arab women’s resistance to oppression all the way to Washington, this most political of cities.

The Hirshhorn Museum’s retrospective in Washington, just steps from Congress, coincides with a diplomatic push to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, which has revived interest in relations between Tehran and the West.

The non-linear narrative of the exhibit provides a glimpse not just at Neshat’s art and life, but also the trajectory of Iran in modern times, from the 1953 coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution to the recent Green Movement.

“My work is the expression of my feelings and relationship with politics … the rise of anxiety and the joy of the prospect of peace,” said Neshat.

At 58, the New York-based artist is unassuming and soft-spoken, her diminutive frame contrasting with the boldness of her work. Although the self-described secular Muslim insists that her exile is “self-imposed”, her work is so controversial in Iran that it has yet to be shown there publicly, and she has not returned since 1996.

The female protagonists in her video installations are constantly on the move, their lives at risk at every moment.

Continue reading at The National:

Neshat’s work puts spotlight on Iranian women’s fight against oppression