A Gaze through the Veil:

this novel Neshat is highlighting the works of a writer that has been forced into exileand has not received the acclaim that she deserves. As Hamid Dabashi states in hisessay Women without Headaches, "Shirin Neshat's art points to the spectacular arc ofa colourful panorama of Iranian poets and novelists hitherto unknown to the world atlarge." (2006, p.139) Neshat is bringing to life the words of a Shahrnush Parsipur whowas tortured by the Iranian authorities, she is emphasizing the struggle of oppressedwomen and the alienation they experience within society, which if allowed couldforce them to the extreme of madness or suicide. Parsipur's writings deal with manyissues that are taboo in Iran and although this stand against the censorship regime wasgreeted by repercussions of the highest degree, her work is an expression of theeffects that the fundamentalist regime has on the women of Iran and she has taken astand on the self-censorship culture that has evolved from fear in Iranian society.Self-censorship is a main element in Iranian life and arguments have been made forboth sides. One argument supporting censorship states that under such restrictions andrepression art flourishes, “Censorship forces the artist to delve deep into their creativesprings and conceive of innovative methods with which to think outside the box.”(Callamard, 2006, p.8) On the other hand there is the argument that free expression isa right and that no artist should have to tolerate such censorship and restrictions beingplaced upon them. “The nature of art is such that it cannot be dictated to; repressiononly serves to stifle creativity. Censorship strangles the very soul of a culture.”(Middle East Watch, 1993, p 71) The censorship that is placed upon these artistsmakes them resort to different methods and hidden meanings in their work to expressthere ideas and concepts. To take for example the Iranian artist Soudabeh Ardavan,she states that she is not glorifying censorship, but “ Because of all the barriers, itactually makes it better…..because you have to be clever…if you do it cleverlyenough, it’s all hidden like a code.” (Callamard, 2006, p.16)Ms. Ardavan was a victim of the strict laws that followed the revolution and wasjailed for eight years for her pro-democracy activities. She continued to producedrawings in jail and smuggle them out with visitors. She stated that depictions ofwomen in art are very difficult to get authorized, as the main censorship was imposedon animal and human forms and also on any work that may hold political ideas.Depicting women was particularly difficult to do, the law was that a women must be