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Description
Shirin Neshat is recognized as the most prominent artist of the Iranian diaspora. Her two photographic series, Women of Allah (1993-97) and The Book of Kings (2012), are both reactions to the socio-political events and the change of female identity in Iran. The search for Iranian identity has a long tradition in Iranian photography. Neshat's figures, with their penetrating gazes, heavy draperies, and body postures, make reference to nineteenth-century Qajar photography. Through various cultural elements in her artworks, Neshat critiques oppression in Iranian society. Neshat employs and inscribes Persian poetry to communicate contradiction within Iranian culture.
To read Neshat’s photography, it is crucial to register her use of Persian language and historical poetry. Although the reading and understanding of the Persian texts Neshat inscribes on her photographs plays a fundamental role in the interpretation of her work, Neshat’s artworks are not entirely conceptual. The lack of translation of these included texts in Neshat’s exhibitions indicates a decorative use of Persian calligraphy. The Western eye can aesthetically explore this exotic Eastern decorative calligraphy. The formal qualities of Neshat’s photographs remain, even if the viewer is unable to read or understand the Persian texts.
To read Neshat’s photography, it is crucial to register her use of Persian language and historical poetry. Although the reading and understanding of the Persian texts Neshat inscribes on her photographs plays a fundamental role in the interpretation of her work, Neshat’s artworks are not entirely conceptual. The lack of translation of these included texts in Neshat’s exhibitions indicates a decorative use of Persian calligraphy. The Western eye can aesthetically explore this exotic Eastern decorative calligraphy. The formal qualities of Neshat’s photographs remain, even if the viewer is unable to read or understand the Persian texts.
ContributorsBokharachi, Elnaz (Author) / Mesch, Claudia (Thesis advisor) / Hoy, Meredith (Committee member) / Anand, Julie (Committee member) / Ghanem, Carla (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This thesis is an exploration into somatic movement methods to help ease chronic pain. The study follows my personal experience as a researcher and a dancer with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions. I carry forward a body-centered autoethnographic frame, as the prevailing ethos of this work revolves around considering bodily experience as an authority in personal well-being. My research follows the spirit of the Intuitive Inquiry research methodology developed by Dr. Rosemarie Anderson and evolved as I progressed through my own research and organizing processes. This thesis document is organized according to eight physical cycles of intuitive inquiry that emerged from my movement and research processes. The cycles address my conditions of chronic pain and disability, my history with dance competition in the United States, my experience with conceptualizations of the body, and the successes I experience with somatic practices, particularly Tensegrity as it applies to the body. My intuitive physical cycles conclude with a proposal for methods of movement and inner-body communication that promote ease in the body and sustainable movement.
ContributorsSmith, Holly (Author) / Roses-Thema, Cynthia (Thesis advisor) / Olarte, David (Committee member) / Anand, Julie (Committee member) / Tang, Yi-Yuan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023