Shirin Neshat (born 1957) occupies a central role in the discourse on relations between the East and the West: her photographs and videos revolve around the situation of women in societies shaped by Islam, and the contradictions arising between western and oriental cultural traditions.
The review exhibition in the Neue Galerie Graz brings together important works from all Shirin Neshat’s creative periods. The exhibition title Frauen in Gesellschaft addresses two themes constantly recurring in the artist’s œuvre: the role of the woman in Iran, and the traumatic impact of diasporic experiences which can shape a woman for the rest of her life and in the society in which she finds herself from then on.