An internationally acclaimed photographer, filmmaker and video artist, Shirin Neshat was born in Qazvin, Iran, in 1957. She went to the United States to study art and became stranded there when the revolution took place in Iran, in 1979. Going on to work as an artist in New York, she did not return to Iran for 16 years. Subsequently, she made several return trips back to Iran and began what she describes as "a visual discourse on the subjects of feminism and contemporary Islam―a discourse that puts certain myths to the test, claiming that they are far more complex than most of us have imagined."

Neshat's work has been exhibited at major galleries and exhibitions all over the world, receiving a number of awards, among which the Golden Lion at the 1999 Venice Biennale for her first video installation, Turbulent, and the Grand Prix at the 2000 Kwangju Biennale for her video installation Rapture. In her art, Neshat addresses the complex forces shaping the identity of Muslim women throughout the world and explores the social, political and psychological dimensions of women's experiences. As one critic wrote: "Her works power stems from her ability, as someone who is bicultural, to see one culture through the eyes of another... and from her willingness to acknowledge ambiguity of perspectives. It's both richly metaphorical and visually beautiful, and it can move people to think along different lines."

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