PORTRAITS of RESILIENCE

Artist SHIRIN NESHAT looks back at her DECADESLONG practice of CELEBRATING the STRENGTH and COURAGE of WOMEN in her NATIVE IRAN

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I grew up in Qazvin, Iran, which was a very religious and conservative city. I don't know where I got it from-my parents were not at all culturally inclined-but I had this urge to be an artist; I loved to draw in school. I left Iran in 1975 when I was 17 to study art at the University of California, Berkeley, where I received my bachelor's, master of arts, and master of fine arts degrees. It was there that I realized my idea of being an artist was purely romantic; I was not good at art at all. I was also a little distracted during school: The Iranian Revolution took place from 1978 into early 1979 and culminated in the installation of the Islamic Republic. I barely graduated, and when I did, I dropped making art altogether.

After the revolution, the United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations, so I didn't see my family for more than a decade. In 1989, when the first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, died and was replaced by the current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, it was finally possible for me to return. In 1990, I did.

When I visited, I was shocked and overwhelmed by how religious the country had become. The Islamic Republic had hung banners all over Tehran with anti-Israel and anti-America rhetoric. And it was kind of frightening, because even my own sisters and mother were always in hijabs. They were almost unrecognizable to me. Before I left, they were different women, so cosmopolitan. I was very impacted by how Iran had transformed into a different country and became obsessed with how it impacted women's lives.

Once I returned to New York, I started to think about making work that reflected upon what I had experienced. I finally became an artist because I had a purpose.