Shirin Neshat

The Rauschenberg Foundation selected Shirin Neshat for its new “One-to-One” artistic initiative and hosts at its Project Space in New York an exhibition of her new work.

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation selected Shirin Neshat for its new “One-to-One” artistic initiative, that supports contemporary artists as they create artwork in the service of advancing human rights, cultural understanding, and international peacekeeping.

Following her recent photographic series The Book of Kings (2012), that captured the spirit of activism across the Middle East during the Arab Spring, the Rauschenberg Foundation commissioned Neshat to create a new body of work. As a reflection on the aftermath of the failed revolution in Egypt, Neshat conceived of a new series of photographs and prepared to travel to Cairo. In advance of the trip, however, her longtime collaborator, photographer Larry Barns, experienced the tragic and unexpected death of his daughter. Barns’s grief, coupled with the profound sense of loss in a country rife with unrest, inspired Neshat to use this new project to investigate the universal experience of pain and mourning on both a personal and national level.

In Egypt, Neshat invited several individuals to share their stories before her camera, culminating in a series titled Our House Is on Fire. Depicting her subjects up close and with a notable directness, Neshat captures the intensity of each individual’s gaze, creating a poignant connection between the subject and viewer. Neshat then overlays the images with a nearly indecipherable veil of text, inscribing calligraphy across the creases and folds of the subjects’ faces, thereby mirroring the way in which national calamity has become embedded in and inseparable from their personal histories. Taken as a whole this body of work compels the viewer to acknowledge the toll of political and social upheaval that results when people deny humanity to those whom they perceive as the “other.”

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Left: Shirin Neshat, Nady, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 157.8 x 102.2 cm, 160.7 x 102.2 x 5.1 cm framed. Edition EC SN236, location: 515 West 24th Street. Right: Shirin Neshat, Mona, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 157.8 x 102.2 cm, 160.7 x 102.2 x 5.1 cm framed. Edition EC SN236, location: 515 West 24th Street

Left: Shirin Neshat, Mahmoud,, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 157.8 x 102.2 cm, 160.7 x 102.2 x 5.1 cm framed. Edition EC SN236, location: 515 West 24th Street. Right: Shirin Neshat, Kamal, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 152.4 x 121.9 cm. Edition 1 of 5 + 2 APs, SN259. Location: Baobab Frame

Left: Shirin Neshat, Hossein, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 152.4 x 121.9 cm. Edition 1 of 5 + 2 APs, SN259. Location: Baobab Frame. Right: Shirin Neshat, Hassan, from Our House Is on Fire series, 2013. Digital C-print and ink, 152.4 x 121.9 cm. Edition 1 of 5 + 2 APs, SN259. Location: Baobab Frame

until March 1, 2014
Shirin Neshat
Rauschenberg Foundation Project Space
West 19th Street, New York

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