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Shirin Neshat: Born of Fire marks the artist’s first museum exhibition in the New York area in over 20 years. The show offers a non-linear survey of Neshat’s artistic development, presenting focused installations of four significant bodies of work. These range from her first major photographic works, Women of Allah (1993–7)—images inspired by women’s involvement in the Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq War—to The Book of Kings (2012), a portrait series that calls on the tradition of Persian epic poetry to address the Arab Spring protest movement. The exhibition will also include more recent projects that present Neshat’s surreal film and video works alongside still photographs, including Land of Dreams (2019), in which the artist turns her attention to exploring American culture from the perspective of an Iranian artist in exile, and The Fury (2022–3), addressing sexual exploitation of female political prisoners.

Though distinct, all four bodies of work are connected by motifs of rebellion, storytelling, and human connection; presented together, they reveal how these key themes have developed throughout Neshat’s artistic evolution. The exhibition also features a gallery dedicated to her private collection of work by fellow artists, from friends such as Marina Abramović and Robert Longo to artists based in the Middle East. This installation reveals Neshat’s influences as well as her championship of lesser-known peers, especially from cultures where censorship impedes free expression.