She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World

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Review These women artists should be seen and heard. (J. Natal CHOICE)Our hunger for exotic places and people might seem sated by the unending stream of imagery that now assaults us, including from the Middle East. But SHE WHO TELLS A STORY: WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM IRAN AND THE ARAB WORLD, accompanying a show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, suggests that we haven't seen the half of it. (Christopher Lyon Bookforum)This show looks to be something of a revelation: “She Who Tells a Story” and its catalog represent an excellent opportunity for American audiences to learn about a tradition of photography that (to my knowledge, at least) has had little exposure up until now. [...] In a foreword to the catalog, curator and critic Michket Krifa discusses how culturally-charged objects, and the veil in particular, have been used to draw overly simplified conclusions about the situation of women in Muslim countries. In discussing the work of Iranian photographer Shirin Neshat, she writes: “very quickly, her photographs prompted Western art critics to search for an aesthetics of the veil, often with a desire to see her works solely as a critique of the Iranian regime and, more broadly, of Islam.” In short, Krifa says, “they distorted her artistic singularity into an anthropological curiosity.” Clearly, one challenge of the exhibit is avoid producing this sort of reading. (Dan Abbe American Photo)This extraordinary exhibition and its accompanying catalogue may well go down as a landmark in the worlds of contemporary photography and graphic arts. In addition they illuminate the subtle but explosive changes now transforming Middle Eastern societies. (John G. Morris The New York Times - Lens)Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, these provocative images explore the social and political landscapes of the Middle East, and are accompanied by biographical and interpretive essays. (Kate Christensen The New York Times Book Review)“It’s been an emerging trend from the Middle East that the most powerful and the strongest work is being done by women right now,” says Kristen Gresh, curator of the exhibit and author of the accompanying publication, She Who Tells a Story. (Margaret Burdge Boston Magazine) Read more