Sharin Neshat is an artist whose work can be seen by some as too controversial to accept. In her own home country of Iran, her work, including her movie, have been banned. Iran went so far as to ban her, herself, from the country. I found it fascinating in the interview when she was talking about being banned from her own country. She talked about how it took her a while to adjust to life here in the States. What I found incredibly interesting through all of this is that it almost strengthened her drive to create work about the violence in her home country. Even though she no longer lives there, or can live there, her sense of duty to tell her people’s story is still fighting within her.
The other part of her story that I found interesting was when she was talking about how her movie will never be allowed to be legally viewed within Iran. When asked if she thought that the movie would be smuggled in, she answered that she hoped for that. This is so different from most artists. Most artists want their art to be viewed in a gallery for the world to admire. They want everyone to appreciate their work for the beauty that it is. However, she does not seem to care about the glory or the praise. She is more concerned with making sure her story and the story of those she left behind is told. I think that this is the major thing that sets her apart from so many other artists.
The image I chose is of a woman holding the hands of what appears to be a child. What I find interesting about her work is that, in the same way as the other artists we have studied, her work involves both photo and text. However, the text in her work is not able to be read by many here because of the language barrier. However, even with a language difference, her work is still as moving and inspirational as all the other artists.
Mallory- I love the image that you chose. The language barrier is clear, but the symbolism of all the picture's components together is powerful in another aspect. The way that the (presumably) woman's hands are holding the child's, to me, seems like strong support and protection. More importantly, I think the difference between the child's bare hands and the woman's detailed designs and Arabic cursive on her hands portray the development of a strong opinion and sense of self over time. Again, the image asserts the fact that woman in the Arabic-speaking world MAY have the stereotype of accepting oppression (to some Westerners), but they are their own people and therefore have their own strong opinions and emotions, too. They're just expressed differently than ours.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Annie, this photograph is beautiful, I can just sense the love of the mother for her child. For me the love and care for the child is literally popping out of my computer screen. But maybe that's because I'm a female myself.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, this image was shown to a room full of males, if they would sense the same thing as, I presume, many woman do when looking at her photos.
Neshat's photos are empowering images of women, so they can have a voice, will men think this is a powerful image as well?
I really like the picture that you chose, not only because I chose the same piece for my blog entry, but because you pointed on something that I failed to address - the illegible/non-understandable writing on the hands of the woman. Despite that point, however, her works does still help to break those societal stereotypes and be used as an inspiration.
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