Horror, Hope and History

A slightly edited version of an article that appeared in The Beijinger, January 2009, p 86 (see bottom of the page for a pdf of the original article). Dan's previously unpublished interview with Shirin Neshat can be found here.

An artist's view of the coup that changed Iranian women's lives

Mixing magic, tragedy, history and politics, Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men is a sharp rejoinder to simplistic Western images of Islamic women. The U.S. based Iranian artist has created a rich video series delving into the complex lives of women in her homeland, while also tracing the contours of a crucial turning point in the nation's recent past – the U.S. and British-backed overthrow of Iran's democratically elected government in 1953. The coup saw progressive Prime Minister Doctor Mohammed Mossadegh forced out of office after he nationalized the country's oil reserves.

"I wanted to return to this historical moment and touch on how the American government had direct relation to the overthrow of a democratic government, which eventually led to the deep resentment of Iranians against Americans, and indeed paved the road for the Islamic revolution," Shirin Neshat explains. "I've been very perplexed by the perception of Iranian culture by Americans ever since the Islamic revolution," she explains.

Neshat's work is anything but dry historical documentation however. "I had no interest in making a documentary film or a history lesson, but rather I found it interesting and a challenge to build events as a background to my story."

Women Without Men draws together Iran's rich literary and filmic traditions through five short videos that each explores a female character from Shahrnush Parsipur's 1989 magic-realist novel of the same name. Neshat describes the author as "one of the foremost important contemporary female writers in Iran," although like Neshat she now lives in exile in the U.S.

When Neshat was casting around for the basis of her next video project in 2002, her mind turned to Parsipur's Women Without Men. "Parsipur's style fit my work perfectly," enthuses the artist. "All her work has one foot in society, history and politics, but is also profoundly timeless, philosophical and universal in expression... Most importantly her stories are always told through female characters."

Each of Neshat's videos takes a different narrative and stylistic approach, which she attributes to "the distinctions between each one of the women's characters. I basically took each woman's dilemma and tried to, in the best way I could, reveal her spiritual, psychological, social or sexual issues."

She describes Mahdokht, for example, as a "totally unworldly, or rather surrealistic character." The video plays out across three screens, exploring the split desires and tormented nature of the titular character, who is terrified by sexuality, yet obsessed with fertility and children. In contrast, Zarin is a striking horror movie focusing on a prostitute and her "feelings of shame and sin." The young woman's clients begin to appear as blank, faceless monsters, and in an unbearably visceral scene in a public bathhouse, Zarin attempts to erase her withered anorexic frame through frenzied scrubbing, until she is reduced to chafed, bloodied mass.

Munis most successfully draws together the novel's magic-realist style, the commentary on the lives of Iranian women, and the historical backdrop of the 1953 coup. The central character is harangued by her conservative brother as she listens to radio broadcasts reporting the Shah's seizure of power. When she witnesses a fleeing protester shot on the street below, Munis steps off the roof of her home, and in the words of the artist, "finds freedom through her flight."

Faezeh unfolds as a surreal nightmare of rape and ruined happiness, an indictment of the expectations placed on women in societies that put a premium on 'purity,' while turning a blind eye to sexual violence.

The series ends with Farokh Legha, described by Neshat as "a very realistic and worldly character." The middle-aged woman hosts a party that is rudely interrupted by armed troops on the night of the coup. Some time later she returns to the house, which is now unkempt and deserted. Discovering a young woman lying prone in a pond, Farokh takes her inside, where the young girl flickers with life. As the camera slowly pans across the room, the dust fades and flames dance in the fireplace once again.

This final image seems to be one of hope, suggesting the ideals of the democratic period live on despite the traumas we've witnessed. "If you look back [to Mossadegh's government], you see a very sophisticated society with far more equality between men and women, not only in relation to government but the cultural life of Iran," says Neshat. Women Without Men stands as a memorial to this period and the women who have survived the vagaries of Iranian history. Neshat is also currently completing a feature film based on Parsipur's novel, providing another take on these extraordinary tales of women in a culture few of us know much about. Dan Edwards

Shirin Neshat's "Women Without Men" will show at Faurschou Beijing, 798, until Jan 18, 2009.

Zarin, 2005

Copyright Shirin Neshat

Courtesy Faurschou Gallery, Beijing

Mahdokht, 2004

Copyright Shirin Neshat

Courtesy Faurschou Gallery, Beijing