Neshat-Isms

A vivid and compelling collection of quotations from the influential contemporary artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat

Neshat-isms is an exciting collection of quotations from award-winning Iranian-American visual artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat. Her experiences of loss and grief as an Iranian woman living in exile are central themes of her work in photography, video, and film. She is known for her outspoken advocacy for Iranian women and human rights, and for poetic and politically charged images and narratives that raise questions about power, religion, race, and gender. Gathered from interviews, talks, and writings, these powerful and thought-provoking quotations showcase the voice of one of the most important artists of our time.

• ＂Through my work I have continued to defy and resist the Western clichéd image of Iranian women as passive victims. While acknowledging the repressive situation in Iran, I have continued to represent Iranian women as empowered, courageous, defiant, and rebellious.＂
• ＂Every Iranian artist, in one form or another, is political. Politics has defined our lives.＂
• ＂I’ve done a lot of work about women in a state of madness, where ultimately they find a kind of freedom.＂
• ＂You can’t demystify a myth.＂

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian-born artist and filmmaker who lives in New York. She has had many solo exhibitions at museums around the world, and her awards include the Venice Biennale International Prize. She has directed three feature-length films, Land of Dreams, Looking for Oum Kulthum, and Women Without Men, which won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival. Larry Warsh has been active in the art world for more than thirty years as a publisher and artist-collaborator. He is the editor of many books, including The Notebooks of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warhol-isms, Basquiat-isms, and Weiwei-isms (all Princeton)