Publisher's Synopsis
This publication surveys important works drawn from the entire career of the New York-based Iranian artist Shirin Neshat (born 1957), from the iconic inscribed photographs of the Women of Allah series (1993-97) to the artist's most recent work, which looks at American culture and the ambivalent experience of being Iranian in the United States. Working nimbly in film, photography, video and multi-channel installation, Neshat's work has always engaged questions of identity and belonging, investigating the relationships between the cultures of Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, poetry and polemics, public life and private life, modernity and antiquity. Women in Society offers a comprehensive survey of Neshat's oeuvre, identifying two recurring themes in the artist's large and diverse body of work: the role of women in Islamic societies and the repercussions of traumatic, diaspora-related experiences suffered by women.
