Shirin Neshat
Born in 1957 in Qazvin, Iran, Shirin Neshat is an artist and filmmaker living in New York. The Detroit Institute of Arts recently presented a major retrospective of Neshat’s work (2013). She has also held numerous solo exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally. She was also awarded the Grand Prix of the Gwangju Biennial (2000); the Golden Lion for best international artist at the 48th Venice Biennale (1999); the Hiroshima Freedom Prize (2005); the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2006); and the Crystal Award, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland (2014). Neshat’s first feature-length film, Women Without Men, received the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 66th Venice International Film Festival in 2009. She is currently working on her second feature-length film based on the life and art of the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kolthum. Neshat is represented by Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.