These women artists should be seen and heard.
*CHOICE*
Our hunger for exotic places and people might seem sated by the
unending stream of imagery that now assaults us, including from the
Middle East. But SHE WHO TELLS A STORY: WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM
IRAN AND THE ARAB WORLD, accompanying a show at the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, suggests that we haven't seen the half of it.
*Bookforum*
This show looks to be something of a revelation: “She Who Tells a
Story” and its catalog represent an excellent opportunity for
American audiences to learn about a tradition of photography that
(to my knowledge, at least) has had little exposure up until now.
[...] In a foreword to the catalog, curator and critic Michket
Krifa discusses how culturally-charged objects, and the veil in
particular, have been used to draw overly simplified conclusions
about the situation of women in Muslim countries. In discussing the
work of Iranian photographer Shirin Neshat, she writes: “very
quickly, her photographs prompted Western art critics to search for
an aesthetics of the veil, often with a desire to see her works
solely as a critique of the Iranian regime and, more broadly, of
Islam.” In short, Krifa says, “they distorted her artistic
singularity into an anthropological curiosity.” Clearly, one
challenge of the exhibit is avoid producing this sort of
reading.
*American Photo*
This extraordinary exhibition and its accompanying catalogue may
well go down as a landmark in the worlds of contemporary
photography and graphic arts. In addition they illuminate the
subtle but explosive changes now transforming Middle Eastern
societies.
*The New York Times - Lens*
Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston, these provocative images explore the social and
political landscapes of the Middle East, and are accompanied by
biographical and interpretive essays.
*The New York Times Book Review*
“It’s been an emerging trend from the Middle East that the most
powerful and the strongest work is being done by women right now,”
says Kristen Gresh, curator of the exhibit and author of the
accompanying publication, She Who Tells a Story.
*Boston Magazine*
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