Shirin Neshat and "Women of Allah"

Shirin Neshat is a contemporary Iranian artist from Qazvin, Iran now residing in New York. Her work mostly consists of photography and film. She focuses on Iran after the revolution, emphasizing contrasts between dark and light, religion and culture, and male and female criticizing institutions of religion and gender.

Rebellious Silence, Shirin Neshat. 1994.

Rebellious Silence is from Neshat’s “Women of Allah” series defining women’s roles in the Iranian revolution and how they were affected by the new regime. This series, like much of Neshat’s work, emphasizes themes through contrasts and divides. This series demonstrates the silencing of women through the new regime (women were removed from government, were mandated to wear hijab, and were banned from singing in public) and contrasted this ideology by placing calligraphic script on the subject’s faces. The stark black and white adds to the theme of contrast as well. The weapon in this piece physically divides the woman’s face, representing the inner divide women felt after the revolution. 

In the Neshat’s film Turbulent, two characters are shown. When I saw this film displayed in the museum, these separate films played at the same time on opposite walls, showcasing the opposite experiences men and women had after the revolution. Men were given power and platform, and from women it was taken away. The antithesis of film starts with the men’s side being filled with an audience, when he walks to the stage applause greets him and he finishes with applause as well. The woman’s side is merely vacant seats and silence when she approaches the stage. This demonstrates the platform given to men as their concerns were validated and their opinions heard, while women were cast into the shadows and silenced. When the man sings, he sings poetry. When the woman sings, she is stuttering, gasping, and ends up screaming from frustration. This shows how speech was limited for women.  Contrast is also shown by men wearing white, with the single woman wearing black to further emphasize women being put in the background. 

Fervor Excerpt from Ghasem Ebrahimian on Vimeo.

Neshat’s film Fervor depicts how women and men experienced sexual repression together, as these films were placed together side by side instead of on opposite walls. The film starts with a man and woman crossing paths, with the man looking back at her, indicating some sort of lust.  They attend the lecture at the mosque, where the mawlana is preaching about the story of Yusuf and Zuleikha, the story of lust as she tried to pursue him and he rejected her as God was watching. The screen is physically divided by the partition that separates the men from the women, and the men wear all white as the women wear all black emphasizing this contrast. While the mawlana is denouncing the lust between the two, the man and the woman look to each other through the partition. He then has the audience chant, “lannat bar shaytan” meaning “curse upon satan” as satan influenced the lust between the two. The woman, feeling guilty for her lust feels uncomfortable and leaves the mosque.  The man and the woman then walk away from each other.

My version of "Women of Allah"

When I first saw Shirin Neshat’s exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum, I connected to it emotionally and personally. As a Muslim Woman living in the West, I have often experienced the inner divide and dual lives that comes with being a Muslim woman. On a deeper level, Shirin Neshat is an Iranian artist critiquing the Iranian revolution. Being Shia from Pakistan, Iran was always seen as a safe haven, a glorified land for Shias while we are being massacred in our home country.  Iran was glorified in a way it was almost idealized. My father told me that when he was a young child, he witnessed his mother making desserts in celebration of Reza Pahlavi’s son being born. My father laughs thinking about it in retrospect, as the Pahlavi was very Western and while “officially” Shia, he was not religious. After more information about the Shah’s westernized regime was leaked, many Shias supported Khomeini and the Iranian revolution. My own personal dual reality growing up in the West was divided between hearing at home and within my Shia community how the revolution saved Iran, while going to public school and learning how the revolution oppressed Iran.

I created my own rendition of Neshat’s “Women of Allah” series.  I took a photo of my mother from her wedding day (a day that in many Islamic cultures, cements a girl’s identity as a woman), and edited both cultural and religious text in the way Neshat did. The text on the skin is an Urdu poem “A Thousand Desires Such” about lust.

A Thousand Desires Such by Mirza Ghalib

Thousands of desires, each worth dying for... many of them I have realized...yet I yearn for more...  Why should my killer (lover) be afraid? No one will hold her responsible for the blood which will continuously flow through my eyes all my life  We have heard about the dismissal of Adam from Heaven, With a more humiliation, I am leaving the street on which you live...  Oh tyrant, your true personality will be known to all if the curls of my hair slip through my turban!
 But if someone wants to write her a letter, they can ask me, every morning I leave my house with my pen on my ear.
 In that age, I turned to drinking (alcohol) and then the time came when my entire world was occupied by alcohol  From whom I expected justice/praise for my weakness turned out to be more injured with the same cruel sword  When in love, there is little difference between life and death we live by looking at the infidel who we are willing to die for  Put some pressure on your heart to remove that cruel arrow, for if the arrow comes out, so will your heart...and your life.  For god's sake, don't lift the cover off any secrets you tyrant the infidel might turn out to be my lover!  The preacher and the bar's entrance are way apart yet I saw him entering the bar as I was leaving!  thousands of desires, each worth dying for... many of them I have realized...yet I yearn for more 

The text on her clothing are Quran verses from Surah Nisa and Surah Nur, mostly about how women should cover themselves.

And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess. [This is] the decree of Allah upon you. And lawful to you are [all others] beyond these, [provided] that you seek them [in marriage] with [gifts from] your property, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse. So for whatever you enjoy [of marriage] from them, give them their due compensation as an obligation. And there is no blame upon you for what you mutually agree to beyond the obligation. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.” (Quran 4:24)

And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.(Quran 24:31)

O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.” (Quran 33:59)

I tried to intertwine these contrasts of dark and light with the black and white imagery, as well as a contrast of religion and culture by including poetry by Ghalib as well as text from the Quran. The content of these texts were opposites as well, from describing Ghalib’s lust for women to the ways women should cover themselves in the Quran.

Analyzing Neshat’s work and relating it to myself through contrasts in her work and finding contrasts in myself helped me understand the intricate  identity politics that comes with being a Muslim woman.

Kiren Rizvi is a college freshman at Rutgers University planning to major in political science. You can read more about her thoughts on culture, religion, and anti-imperialism here. 

Contact: kiren.rizvi@rutgers.edu