Shirin Neshat (b.1957) left Iran in 1975, emigrating to the US to finish her education and study art at the University of California, Berkeley. While she was away, the Iranian revolution (1978-79) saw the monarchy toppled and the establishment of an Islamic republic. Returning to Iran in 1990, Neshat was shocked to find the country unrecognisable from that of her childhood. She was particularly upset at how the conservative Islamic government had compromised women’s autonomy, rescinding their rights and mandating their dress and conduct. In response, she began making powerful photographs, videos and films that address notions of femininity in relation to Islamic fundamentalism and which explore how women in repressive societies find freedom in the face of tyranny, oppression and injustice. Avoiding overt political critique, her works tend towards poetic imagery and narratives.

The photographs I am its Secret (1993) and Untitled (1996) belong to her series ‘Women of Allah’ (1993-97), in which photographic portraits are inscribed with Farsi texts. I am its Secret depicts the artist in a black head covering, her face overlaid with spiralling poetry by Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-67), one of Iran’s most famous female poets. The hand written calligraphic text in red and black ink is from her poem ‘I Will Greet the Sun Again,’ which speaks of beauty, freedom and the hope that women will one day enjoy true liberation. In the black-and-white photograph Untitled, Neshat wears the traditional Islamic chador, a full body cloak worn by Iranian women. She clutches the hand of her son Cyrus, whose body is inked with floral patterns. In juxtaposing a veiled adult woman and naked male child, the work alludes to fundamentalist gender expectations in post-revolutionary Iran: the boy may be small and seemingly powerless, but he still enjoys more rights and freedoms than any Iranian woman.