Neshat often emphasizes this theme by showing two or more coordinated films concurrently, creating stark visual contrasts through motifs such as light and dark, black and white, male and female. Her work refers to the social, cultural and religious codes of Muslim societies and the complexity of certain oppositions, such as man and woman. As a way of coping with the discrepancy between the culture that she was experiencing and that of the pre-revolution Iran in which she was raised, she began her first mature body of work, the Women of Allah series, portraits of women entirely overlaid by Persian calligraphy. Neshat's earliest works were photographs, such as the Unveiling (1993) and Women of Allah (1993–97) series, which explore notions of femininity about Islamic fundamentalism and militancy in her home country. In 1993 Neshat began earnestly to make art again, starting with photography. Since the Storefront ran like a cultural laboratory, Neshat was exposed to creators - artists, architects, and philosophers she asserts Storefront eventually helped reignite her interest in art. Most noticeable, of course, was the change in people's physical appearance and public behavior." The change was both frightening and exciting I had never been in a country that was so ideologically based. The difference between what I had remembered from the Iranian culture and what I was witnessing was enormous. "It was probably one of the most shocking experiences that I have ever had. In 1990, Neshat returned to Iran, one year after Ayatollah Khomeini's death. She states, "Those ten years I made practically no art, and the art I did make I was dissatisfied with and eventually destroyed." She was intimidated by the New York art scene and believed her art was not substantial. ĭuring this time, Neshat made a few attempts at creating art, which was subsequently destroyed. After meeting her future husband, who ran the Storefront for Art and Architecture, an alternative space in Manhattan, she dedicated ten years to working with him there. She quickly realized that making art wasn't her profession then. Neshat graduated from UC Berkeley in 1983, and soon moved to New York City. In college she studied art under Harold Paris and Sylvia Lark. In 1975, Neshat left Iran to study art at University of California, Berkeley and completed her BA, MA and MFA degrees. He sent his daughters, as well as his sons to college to receive higher education. According to Neshat, her father encouraged his daughters to "be an individual, to take risks, to learn, to see the world". Neshat was enrolled in a Catholic boarding school in Tehran. What happened, I think, was that their identity slowly dissolved, they exchanged it for comfort. Neshat said that her father "fantasized about the west, romanticized the west, and slowly rejected all of his own values both her parents did. Neshat's father was a physician and her mother a homemaker. Neshat is the fourth of five children of wealthy parents, brought up in the religious city of Qazvin in north-western Iran under a "very warm, supportive Muslim family environment", where she learned traditional religious values through her maternal grandparents. Neshat is a critic in the photography department at the Yale School of Art. Neshat has been recognized for winning the International Award of the XLVIII Venice Biennale in 1999, and the Silver Lion as the best director at the 66th Venice Film Festival in 2009, to being named Artist of the Decade by Huffington Post critic G. Although I don’t consider myself an activist, I believe my art – regardless of its nature – is an expression of protest, a cry for humanity.” Since Iran has undermined basic human rights, particularly since the Islamic Revolution she has said that she has "gravitated toward making art that is concerned with tyranny, dictatorship, oppression and political injustice. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, antiquity and modernity, and bridging the spaces between these subjects. Shirin Neshat ( Persian: شیرین نشاط born March 26, 1957, in Qazvin) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Silver Lion Venice Film Festival, Golden Lion Venice Biennale Mixed media performance, video installations, photography University of California, Berkeley ( BA, MA, MFA)
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