A few blocks away from the United States Capitol Building, where the Senate is currently debating the merits and shortfalls of the nuclear deal with Iran, the Hirshhorn’s timely exhibit—Shirin Neshat: Facing History—offers an overview of Iran’s recent history by framing the eponymous artist’s works in relation to important events from the country’s history.
Neshat has created something of a brand in her oeuvre; black and white photographic portraits inscribed with Persian calligraphic script and video installations spread across two screens dominate the exhibition. The introduction to the exhibition acknowledges the barrier facing non-Iranian viewers when considering these works: the inability to read the text. It was therefore an aim to overcome this barrier through translations of the poetry written on Neshat’s works throughout the exhibition; one might see the accompanying explanations of Iran’s political movements as a further attempt to provide unfamiliar viewers with the tools for unpacking these works.
While at times powerful, this model perhaps imbues the artist’s oeuvre with more political meaning than intended. Rather than placing the works in a strictly chronological order, the exhibition places works in an order which serves to illustrate the artist’s interest in Iran’s political history. The video installations are particularly aided by this method of contextualization as their meaning might have been lost on viewers with less knowledge of Iran’s history. One of the most powerful works on display is Turbulant, a video installation “about the prohibition of women singing in public” which overwhelms the viewer with the passionate but wordless singing of a veiled woman. The accompanying historical explanation with this piece relates that Neshat created it in response to the Iranian authorities’ changing public and social policies.
In some cases, however, the exhibition’s focus on Iran’s political movements feels slightly forced, and the jump in chronology between works can feel jarring. This is especially prevalent later in the exhibition with her two most recent photographic series. Book of Kings relates to the epic of the Persian kings, the Shahnama. The next series, entitled Our House is in Fire, visually similar but documentary in nature, focuses on an entirely different topic, that of the Egyptian Revolution. It is in these moments that the exhibition loses its consistency.
Perhaps in a city so saturated with politics and international relations, this is the type of approach to art that is necessary to create an exhibition with wide appeal. In some ways, Shirin Neshat: Facing History serves to illustrate a side of Iranian culture that some Americans may not know and manages to do so while avoiding commentary on current political issues. This quality makes it well worth a visit. The exhibition closes on September 20, 2015 (click to open Hirshhorn Museum exhibition page in new tab).
C.M.
The Grid 