Shirin Neshat, an Iranian artist living in New York, has been addressing the social, political and psychological dimensions of women’s experience in contemporary Islamic societies for the past 20 years. She is known for her powerful video installations, film, and photography (they’ve been included in several biennials – Venice, Istanbul, Sydney) but rarely are they seen together. The Detroit Institute of Arts is remedying that by curating a mid-career retrospective of her work (April 7, 2013-July 7, 2013) which will include eight videos and two series of her photography. Detroit is an apt city to host such an exhibition. Nearby Dearborn, MI (the tenth most populated municipality in the state) holds the second densest Arab community outside of the Middle East.
Neshat’s photography, particularly her self-portraits, has been compared to Cindy Sherman‘s who incidentally was the first person to buy Neshat’s work, at the Annina Nosei Gallery in New York, in 1995.