Shirin Neshat

I find that through the study of women, you get to the heart - the truth - of the culture.

— Shirin Neshat

Being political is an integral part of being Iranian. Our lives are defined by politics.

— Shirin Neshat

I believe we don't need to widen the divide between the West and Islam. Rather, we need to build dialogue to encourage…

— Shirin Neshat

We're either awake or we're sleeping. During the time that we're awake, we work very hard at denying things, mainly because we…

— Shirin Neshat

Every Iranian artist dreams of the black market. We don't care about making money.

— Shirin Neshat

Art is our weapon. Culture is a form of resistance.

— Shirin Neshat

Poets use metaphors and symbolism to construct images. I construct my images in the same way, except that I am using a…

— Shirin Neshat

I'm really interested in social justice, and if an artist has a certain power of being heard and voicing something important, it's…

— Shirin Neshat

Beautiful woman wrapped in chadors, with huge machine guns in their hands. Brilliant, shocking, amazingly contradictory images. They compelled me to deeply…

— Shirin Neshat

In this Western world that we have, culture risks being [only] a form of entertainment.

— Shirin Neshat

My mother is my last point of security in relation to my past, and if that breaks, I will not ever have…

— Shirin Neshat

To me, editing is not something you can do in a rush because the artists themselves are not always their own best…

— Shirin Neshat

Magical realism allows an artist like myself to inject layers of meaning without being obvious. In American culture, where there is freedom…

— Shirin Neshat

You're faced with creation, you're faced with something very mysterious and very mystical, whether it's looking at the ocean or being alone…

— Shirin Neshat

There is nothing negative about a group of people crying out for democracy - and if my voice counts, I will be…

— Shirin Neshat

Nature has the most powerfully healing effect.

— Shirin Neshat

There's something when you're always immersed in the natural landscape where it becomes your healer, in a way, at the same time…

— Shirin Neshat

Part of me has always resisted the Western clichéd image of Muslim women, depicting them as nothing more than silent victims. My…

— Shirin Neshat

The idea of feeling displaced, and never feeling safe anywhere in the world, where you always feel like you're safer if you're…

— Shirin Neshat

Those of us living in the state of in between have certain advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of being exposed to a…

— Shirin Neshat

My father was a doctor, but he was what I would call an intellectual - very well-read and very interested in knowledge.…

— Shirin Neshat

The first years of my life in the U.S. were very difficult.

— Shirin Neshat

I believe and support the feminist movement, but I am not generally interested in considering women's rights in relation to equality with…

— Shirin Neshat

Every Iranian artist, in one form or another, is political. Politics have defined our lives.

— Shirin Neshat

Art is no crime. It's every artist's responsibility to make art that is meaningful

— Shirin Neshat