Shirin Neshat
The Fury
The Fury, an exhibition of new works by Shirin Neshat. This show comprises a double-channel video installation and a series of black and white photographs with hand-inscribed calligraphy of poems by Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad. These multidimensional bodies of work continue upon her incisive artmaking practice that focuses on the female body as both a battleground for ideology and a source of strength. By questioning and drawing attention to the relationship between the masculine and feminine, the individual and the collective these images address issues of power within patriarchal societies. In a highly fictionalized and stylized way, Neshat’s new video installation addresses the sexual exploitation of female prisoners. The video traces the psychological and emotional journey of a young Iranian woman, who, although she now lives freely in the United States, remains traumatized by her memories in captivity. Shown alongside this video is a new photographic series that focuses more directly on the female body as both an object of desire and of violence. The nude portraits of a diverse selection of women from different countries convey a sense of beauty, dignity, confidence, and pride, yet pain, vulnerability, and trauma. For decades, Neshat’s expansive body of work has focused on the problematics of the female body and the way in which it has continued to be a contested space for sin, shame, desire, repression, politics, while also rebellion, power, and protest. The work by Neshat is unceasingly relevant in how it asks questions on the issues of power, religion, race, gender, and the relationship between the past and present, East and West, individual and collective, through her experiences as an Iranian woman living in exile.
Artists
Shirin Neshat