Shirin Neshat

Rapture Series, 1999

This photograph is taken from the film Rapture, which was

filmed in Morocco and which consists of two opposing

projections, separating and visually polarising men and women.

Rapture exists as a poignant reflection on the rootless, unsettled

psychology of exile. As an Iranian expatriate living in the United

States, Neshat maintains a critical distance that has allowed her

to locate both the poetics and the power of the veil. At the same

time she celebrates the strength and beauty of Islamic women,

she remains keenly aware of the horrors of repression.