"Rebellious Silence"

Shirin Neshat is famous and is known all around the world because of her outstanding art work. She is born in Qazvin, Iran but immigrated to America at the age of seven. Pursuing her life in America she started to see art as her passion. Graduating from the University of California in Berkeley in 1982 she decided to move to New York City and pursue her dream as an artist. The art piece I choose from her art collection is called “Rebellious Silence.” This is a picture that portrays Shirin Neshat as a Muslim women dressed in a black outfit called chador. This word refers to a black rob Muslim women wear that covers their entire body from head to toe. In the picture all Shirin is showing is her hands and feet while a rifle divides her face into two sides. On her face there is a poem written in ink from a poet named Tahereh Saffarzadeh. The verses of the poem express the deep belief of many Iranian women in Islam that are looked at extremely different and discomforting. Many women in Islam aren’t allowed to show any part of their body so men won’t see them as a sexual object.  Many of Shirin’s art work brings so many questions to the audience and can fill someone’s head with tons of thoughts and curiosity. Most of Shirin’s art work deals with women from her country or women in general and how men or other people portray them.  Most of her art work opens the perspective of how women get viewed like or how different they get treated. Being a woman myself makes me feel that much better knowing someone is speaking for all of us.

Here is a link to her art gallery: http://www.gladstonegallery.com/neshat.asp

Here is another link to a video of some of her art work with music from her country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOjqX4rgS9c

Lastly here is a link to the picture I choose: http://maryamduale.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/071022_neshat01_p323.jpg