Shirin Neshat's Venice exhibition explores identity, exile and a social media tragedy

"My work has always been about paradoxes and dualities, women who are very submissive and quiet, but who can also be extremely rebellious and outspoken and defiant. The transitions in the film mark a passage not simply between environments but between states of being, unfolding through what Neshat describes as magic realism-going from the inner to the outer world of this character, passive in public yet very aggressive in front of the camera."

"Do U Dare! is directly inspired by the story of Nasim Aghdam, a fellow Iranian American better known as 'the YouTube Shooter', though Neshat is careful to resist any straightforward biographical reading. The 38-year-old was an apparent recluse who lived with her grandmother in southern California, but who had a double life as a social media star and vegan activist."

Shirin Neshat presents Do U Dare! at Venice's Palazzo Marin, a film trilogy examining exile, fractured identity, and power through a female protagonist navigating three distinct New York social environments. Shot in black and white during public scenes, the work depicts a solitary, isolated figure who undergoes transformation upon entering interior spaces, transitioning to color and gaining superpowered abilities to influence others. Neshat's artistic practice centers on paradoxes and dualities—portraying women as simultaneously submissive and defiant. The trilogy employs magic realism to explore the protagonist's dual nature: passive in public yet aggressive before the camera. Inspired by Nasim Aghdam's story, the work resists biographical literalism while examining the tensions between private and public identity.

Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events