Shirin Neshat Author:Roselee Goldberg, Giorgio Verzotti In Shirin Neshat's photographs, Persian calligraphic script is transcribed over black and white depictions of the exposed faces, hands, and feet of Iranian women. In her video works, swarms of women in black "hijabs" ululate, a man in a white dress shirt and black pants sings to an all-male audience, and a lone, nearly invisible woman chants to ... more »herself in a darkened house. Always aesthetically compelling, Neshat's work is equally thematically ambiguous, never settling on a simple or singular meaning, never offering social commentary within prescribed limits. Though focused on the particulars of sex segregation and the suppression of women in contemporary Iran, Neshat underscores the relevance of her poetic, disturbing, moving ensembles to a broader culture. This monograph documents and provides critical insight into the evolution of her work. [Shirin Neshat's work] is not a self portrait. And the actions are too emblematic to furnish an agenda for social activism in the Middle East. Yet they seem to belong to some immemorial enactment, which has been ritualized and repeated. The work is mesmerizing, and if you are like me, you will want to see it again and again. It is an allegory of obscure but inescapable meaning. --Arthur Danto
Essays by Roselee Goldberg, Giorgio Verzotti. 9.5 x 11 in.