Shirin Neshat (Qazvin, Iran, 1957) is one of the most influential artists on the international contemporary scene. Raised in Iran, she moved to the United States in 1974 to study; her return to Iran in 1990, after the Islamic Revolution, marked a radical turning point in her practice. From that moment her work — photography, video, installation, film — became a means of interrogating power, gender, exile and the relationship between East and West.
The photographic series Women of Allah (1993–1997) brought her to international attention: veiled female faces and bodies covered in Persian calligraphy build an image of the Iranian woman that is neither victim nor icon, but a complex and unresolved presence. The video installations Turbulent and Rapture (1999) earned her the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. In 2009 she received the Silver Lion for best direction at the Venice Film Festival for Women Without Men. In 2017 she was awarded the Imperial Prize of Japan for painting. Her works are held at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, the Broad in Los Angeles and in major public collections worldwide.
