Shirin Neshat (born 1957) Rebellious Silence (from 'Women of Allah')

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DR. THOMAS AND TECOAH BRUCE, BERKELEY
Shirin Neshat (born 1957)
Rebellious Silence (from 'Women of Allah'), 1994
Gelatin silver print with ink handwork on the image; signed, dated, annotated '"Women of Allah" Series', and numbered '4/50' in ink on the reverse, framed.
13 3/8 x 8 7/8 in. (34 x 22.5 cm.)
sheet 14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 27.9 cm.)
Provenance
Freddie Fong Contemporary Art, San Francisco, 1999

Literature
Shirin Neshat, Women of Allah (Turin, 1997), cover, p. 8

Note
One of the most arresting, recognizable images from Shirin Neshat's Women of Allah series, Rebellious Silence depicts Neshat herself and exemplifies the four elements intrinsic to this body of work: the unerring gaze, the veil, the gun, and textual markings. The artist's handwritten ink annotations come from an excerpt from Allegiance with Wakefulness, a poem by the Iranian writer Tahereh Saffarzadeh, which explores themes of martyrdom and resilience.

Neshat's work scrutinizes the complexities of female identity within the Islamic Republic of Iran, placing a particular emphasis on the psychological effects of martyrdom, which was encouraged and institutionalized during the country's 1979 revolution. In a 2017 interview with The Guardian Neshat remarked, "These Iranians were caught between self-sacrifice, devotion, love of god – and cruelty, violence and death. We often think of women with an Islamic background as being passive and submissive to men, but here they were really empowered by bearing arms."