AP Art HistoryProject

By: Ryan Ballard

Period: 54/8/14

Identification

• Title: Rebellious Silence• Date: 1994• Artist: Shirin Neshat

- Born in 1957- Current home is in New

York - Brought up in the religious

town of Qazvin in north- western Iran

- Enrolled in UC Berkley - Married a Korean Curator,

Kyong Park- One child: Cyrus Park

Content

• conceptual narrative on the subject of female warriors during the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979

• Fighting for women’s rights, freedoms and equality

• Part of a series of photographs titled Women of Allah

• inscribed calligraphic Farsi text on the women’s face

- text is poetry by contemporary Iranian women poets • Very moving and powerful gaze that brings

emotion to the viewer and awareness to the subject matter: the role of women in the war

Patron / Site

• No patron – meant for the public

• Spread the word of feminism and women in the war

• Religion directly affects the community

Media of Work

• Black and white photograph

• Ink• No color creates a

darker, more serious tone and feeling

• Picture captures the reality of current issue

Scale

• Small • Black and white, deep shadows and

undertones • Normal proportions

Purpose

• Feminism• Bring attention to

women involved in the war

• Religious duties of women

Style

• Realistic (It’s a picture)• submissive gaze,

suggests a far more complex reality behind the surface.

• Woman holding a gun with poems written on her face that describe the war and what women do

• Dress wear is typical of a Muslim woman in Iran

Formal Elements

• Dark shadows that create emotion and accentuate the woman’s expression

• Zoomed in on the subject which focuses the viewer’s attention

• No distinguishing lines except for the important areas: gun, face, writing

• Symmetrical, disregarding the writing• These are mostly typical of Neshat’s

works

Additional Works

Way In Way OutAllegiance with Wakefulness• Part of Women of Allah

Series• Black and white• Feet of Muslim woman

with gun• Photograph• 1994

• Part of the Women of Allah series

• Black and white• Muslim woman praying• Gun is present, so is a

Iranian poem• Photograph• 1994

These photographs became iconic portraits of willfully armed Muslim women.

The End