24 Mar - 31 Aug 15
“Shirin Neshat has developed a unique perspective with the political dimensions of our lives... She has the ability to translate experiences into art that communicates to the world at large.”
While reviewing an article in the New York Times two years ago, I came across this quote by Columbia University professor Hamid Dabashi and remember thinking it was such an accurate way of describing Shirin’s work. In fact, alongside the many years of friendship and respect I have had for her, it was exactly this distinct perspective and ability that brought me to approach her to create this project with YARAT, combined with my continued interest in her evolution over the years— whether it be with photography, video or film.
I first met Shirin at the New York Public Library in the spring of 2006 during a panel discussion she participated in about the misconceptions associated with Iran in the West.II I had come across her Women of Allah (1993–1997) almost ten years earlier when I was still an Art History student in Boston and like every person who has a passion for art and their homeland, I was immediately drawn to her work. It would actually be Shirin’s oeuvre that later inspired me to properly engage in the Iranian Contemporary Art arena and to look at ways of connecting it to an international audience at large.
As I remained in touch with her through various initiatives she later took on, including her award winning film Women without Men (2009), I witnessed how exquisite and distinct her vision was when executing a project. She had this incredible ability to combine concept with aesthetics, poetry with patriotism, translating them into these striking and powerful contemporary visual adaptations. No matter what discipline she chose to do this in, she managed to impact her audiences in one way or another.
Her relationship with the notion of exile and home was also very much a factor I was interested in exploring further. She had expressed in a few interviews how she “will never belong to anywhere completely, never really fit in anywhere completely.”IV This East West conflict which manifests itself frequently within the Iranian diaspora, and particularly among its artists, was a very relevant point for me to try and tackle with this commission, as I was eager to see how Shirin would react to Azerbaijan as a source of inspiration; a country which since my initial visit to Baku in 2008, had generated so much inspiration on my end, as I had tried to communicate through our exhibition with YARAT in Venice two years ago.V
Shirin had been commissioned on a few occasions to do projects that included cultural and historical narratives, such as those recently seen with her powerful series of photographs Our House Is on Fire (2013) for the Rauschenberg Foundation in New YorkVI and another series she did for the ToledoContemporánea exhibition in Spain in 2014 inspired by El Greco.VII Additionally, poetry and patriotism were themes she had explored in depth, such as with her monumental series The Book of Kings (2012) inspired by Ferdowsi’s 60,000 verse epic poem Shahnameh and recent events in Iran and the Middle East.
It therefore almost seemed an obvious choice for YARAT and I to approach the artist for a project that aimed to represent the beautiful cultural diversity and historical heritage present in Azerbaijan. Located at a crossroads between three major historical empires, it contained several interesting facets to explore for a commission, resulting both from the nation's amalgamation as well as its independence in 1991.
The outcome of this collaboration is The Home of My Eyes (2015). A selection of fifty-five individuals ranging from the ages of two to seventy eight years old, coming from different parts of Azerbaijan with various religious backgrounds, and who each respondedVIII to the same four questionsIX the artist had prepared for them, preceding or following the moment their photograph was taken. Following the photo shoot in Baku last October, their answers were later translated into hand written calligraphy overlaying each character’s photograph with ink at the artist's studio in New York and combined with extracts of poetry by Nizami Ganjavi.X The result is a group of images not only timeless through the message and concept they convey—the majority of which revolve around ideas of harmony and pride—but also a magnificent and unique site specific installation for the newly built YARAT Contemporary Art Centre.
I found it particularly interesting to see the evolution in Shirin’s portraits from what she herself describes in this catalogue as “progressing from an initial interest to capture human emotions to visual narratives of a culture.”XI A journey that became very apparent in the way she handled this commission from its inception to its completion.
In addition to this new series of photographs I thought it also important to include the videos Soliloquy (1999) and Passage (2001). As this would be the first time Shirin’s work was being shown in Azerbaijan, I wanted to try and put The Home of My Eyes within a greater context of her oeuvre. In addition, I believed they would represent interesting parables with the country they would be shown in.
Soliloquy is a double channel video often associated as a biographical work by Neshat showing her state of mind caught at the threshold of two worlds, somewhere between East and West, tradition and modernity, a concept I found very pertinent to modern day Azerbaijan, and Baku in particular, given she also used architecture as a core aspect to emphasize the symbolism between both worlds. Passage I thought was relevant for its beautiful execution, its collaboration with famed music composer Philip Glass and its symbolism and affiliation to Zoroastrianism.XII All of which were features I hoped the audience would connect with, as ultimately the goal with this project was to make it as interactive as possible while trying to preserve and respect strong institutional standards.
I have truly enjoyed being a part of this beautiful project and wish to thank YARAT and their founder Aida Mahmudova, for having given me the opportunity to work with such an incredible team of people in Azerbaijan: from the sitters of The Home of My Eyes, to the people who helped us with the shoot and the interviews. In New York: the Gladstone Gallery, Barbara Gladstone, Caroline Luce, Griffin Editions and Barry Frier have been incredible at helping us realize this exhibition under unbelievably tight deadlines. It has been an extraordinary and memorable journey.
I also wish to thank Shirin Neshat above all, for having trusted me with this collaboration and for delivering what I had envisioned (and more) when we initially commissioned her for this project. And finally I wish to thank my team Dalia Bayazid, Farah Rahim Ismail, Benji Wiedemann, Natasha Fielding and David Bhalla from A Plus B Studio, Andrew Stramentov from Exhibit A, all of whom have been an instrumental part in delivering my vision as the curator of this exhibition. It is an honor to be inaugurating YARAT’s Contemporary Art Centre with The Home of My Eyes on the very same day its curatorial director, Suad Garayeva, will be unveiling their permanent collection. I wish YARAT much success in their future ventures with this wonderful initiative and thank them for having hosted this project.
Dina Nasser-Khadivi Curator