The artist is returning to the inflammatory approach that caused a storm in the 1990s – with a harrowing film about a woman the Iranian authorities try to crush (warning: images contain nudity)
‘I have no regrets’ … Neshat, whose new show is called The Fury, in her Brooklyn studio. Photograph: Maria Spann/The Guardian
But Neshat’s new video, The Fury, sees her reprising the urgency and confrontational approach of earlier work. The 15-minute film – an erotic, psychological drama influenced by Pier Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom – is a highly stylised fiction, again shot in black and white. It centres around a female protagonist, played by the Iranian-American actor Sheila Vand, who starred in the Oscar-winning Argo.
Although The Fury’s release coincided with the height of the protests in Iran, Neshat began working on the film in 2019, after the trial of Hamid Nouri in Sweden. Nouri, an Iranian official, was found guilty of playing a key role in the torture and massacre of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Estimates put the number of dead at between 1,000 and 30,000.
The new works have such an intensity, they feel personal. I ask Neshat if she has ever experienced abuse. “Most women have been sexually assaulted,” she says. “When I was young, people molested me and my sisters and we never talked about it because it always came back to us. YetBy making a work so directly about sexual violence, the artist wants viewers “to unleash our own rage. Whether it’s a photograph, video or film, my highest aim is to create intense emotions.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
– an exciting new voice in Australian cinema has arrivedOpening this year’s Melbourne international film festival, the Iranian-Australian director’s debut follows an Iranian mother and daughter as they seek refuge in an Australian women’s shelter
Read more »
– an exciting new voice in Australian cinema has arrivedOpening this year’s Melbourne international film festival, the Iranian-Australian director’s debut follows an Iranian mother and daughter as they seek refuge in an Australian women’s shelter
Read more »
Service stations hire staff to stop drivers fighting over car chargersBritain’s biggest motorway service station provider has brought in marshals to police “charge rage” among electric vehicle drivers fighting to use plug-in points.
Read more »
Service stations hire staff to stop drivers fighting over car chargersBritain’s biggest motorway service station provider has brought in marshals to police “charge rage” among electric vehicle drivers fighting to use plug-in points.
Read more »