Rapture Series (1999)
Shirin Neshat is a contemporary Iranian visual artist who’s known for her work in photography, video, and film. In 1990, Neshat returned to Iran and was shocked to see the strict rules that women had to abide by after the Iranian revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution. Her work explores the relationship between women and the religious and cultural value systems of Islam. Neshat has created multiple series of self-portraits to portray the strict rules of Islamic law for women. Since women were only allowed to show their faces, hands, and feet, she emphasizes those parts of the body through her art. Neshat also uses the sharp contrast between black and white to represent women and men and their distinct differences. Her artwork focuses a lot on space and gender. By this, she clearly indicates the two opposing worlds representing the two gendered groups in Iran. The groups are depicted in the Rapture series (1999) above.