Shirin Neshat, Visiting Artist Lecture 2001

Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat gives an overview of her work since 1993, including her photographic and multimedia practice. She describes her approach as a fusion between cinema and visual arts. She discusses working between Iran and the U.S., her interest in study and depiction of Iran after the Islamic revolution, and the relationship between religion, spirituality, and violence and how these concepts manifest into ideology. She also discusses the prevalence of poetry in her works, by Iranian women writers, and from 13th century Sufi poetry by Rumi, sung by Shoja Azari in select works. Neshat closes by presenting her video trilogy Pulse, Possessed, and Passage.