The Home of My Eyes is an exhibition of听works by Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat (b.1957). Held at the听听as part of the Venice Biennale’s collateral programme, this new presentation features a selection of photographs from The Home of My Eyes series (2015) and a new video,听Roja (2016). Representing a shift in the artist’s practice, these pieces diverge from her former focus on her native Iranian society, and examine, instead, notions of home within other cultures. Notably,听The Home of My Eyes听reflects on communities living in听Azerbaijan听through a sequence of 55 photographic portraits inscribed with ink.
The country resonates deeply with Neshat, as much of its history, religion, ethnicity and culture is shared with Iran. The artist describes the series as 鈥渁 portrait of a country that for so long has been a crossroads of many different ethnicities, religions and languages.鈥 Each sitter’s individual character, age and ethnicity can be observed within the frontal, close-up portraits, yet they are also unified through听similar clothing, dark backdrop and stances that make reference to Christian religious paintings by the likes of El Greco. Texts drawn from each听subject’s response to听cultural identity and concept of home, as well as words from 12th century Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi, litter the surface of every portrait.
On a different note, Roja, reflects on the artist’s experience of living in the foreign culture of the US. Based on Neshat鈥檚 dreams and memories, the film considers听an Iranian woman鈥檚 nostalgia for her homeland听and her shifting position between听her original and adopted homes. Employing a surrealist lens and nonlinear narrative, Roja听explores feelings of displacement, the blurred lines of reality and fiction, and tensions between the past and present.
As a collateral event of the 57th International Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, the Museo Correr shows 26 of Neshat鈥檚 portraits from The Home of My Eyes听补濒辞苍驳蝉颈诲别听搁辞箩补听at the Sala di Quattro Porte on the third floor, within the collection at the Piazza San Marco. The presentation is curated by Thomas Kellein and is supported by听The Written Art Foundation, Frankfurt am Main.
Shirin Neshat, The Home of My Eyes,听13 May-26 November,听Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco, Venice.
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Credits
1. Shirin Neshat, Ilgara,听from The Home of My Eyes series, 2015. Silver Gelatin Print and Ink. Courtesy Written Art Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
