Shirin Neshat is a visual artist whose parents come from Iran. Neshats parents completely disowned the ideologies and customs of their home country. However her father encouraged her to be an independent person and to think for herself. Neshat now lives in New York, and her work refers to the cultural and religious codes of her past i.e Islam but works with her present i.e New York

Here are some examples of her work:

Shirin Neshat

March 21, 2009 by maryamduale | Edit

Shirin Neshat is a visual artist whose parents come from Iran. Neshats parents completely disowned the ideologies and customs of their home country. However her father encouraged her to be an independent person and to think for herself. Neshat now lives in New York, and her work refers to the cultural and religious codes of her past i.e Islam but works with her present i.e New York

Here are some examples of her work:

Neshat creates stark visual contrasts using light and dark, black and white, man and woman etc. I think this is to symbolise the two different cultures she can relate to: ‘West’ and ‘East’. She emphasises in her moving image work by showing two or more films concurrently creating a contrast.

As my next project is looking at the concept of British Muslim and if the two are compatible, I have found her work to be quite inspiring as she deals with her conflicting identities. As a British Muslim I am constantly caught between the two different cultures, and I can connect with her identity crisis and her art.

Examples of my work inspired by Neshat to follow shortly

Picasso

Well well well, I did it, I finally set up a blog. Why? Because Picasso apparently had one, obviously not on blogger, but some sort of journal to contain his ramblings and idea so I thought I would attempt to emulate him.

My one and only wish is to try and remember that, like Picasso, I’m doing this for myself.