Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat, Summer 1953, series #1,<br />silver gelatin print, 40 x 49 3/4 inches, 2008,<br />courtesy of gladstone gallery, New York<br />and galerie jérôme de noirmont, Paris

text by Bill Powers 

 

For her first feature film, the artist Shirin Neshat chose to adapt the beautifully complicated Iranian novella, Women Without Men, a work full of magical realism and deep political undertones. Along the way, she became friends with the story’s author, Shahrnush Parsipur, and gained a greater understanding of how theocrats hijacked her country. Given the recent demonstrations and violence in Tehran, shining a spotlight on Iran is definitely timely.

BILL POWERS — When did you begin working on the film adaptation of Women Without Men?
SHIRIN NESHAT — It started in 2003, with an invitation from the Sundance Institute to partake in a program that helps emerging filmmakers develop film scripts. Miranda…