ART CITIES:Baku-The Home of My Eyes-Shirin Neshat

“As for someone like myself, whose work is quite aesthetic, but so politically charged, it has been an interesting challenge to negotiate a balance between the art world and the political reality that very much informs my work. I can say with honesty that I do my best to remain true to my subjects and vision, regardless of whether it will be commercially popular or not”- Shirin Neshat

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: YARAT Contemporary Art Space Archive

Αt the inaugural exhibition of YARAT Contemporary Art Space in Baku, Azerbaijan, visitors undoubtedly cluster in front of a grand series of black-and-white portraits, rendered with fine ink and stark contrast. In them: the faces of their fellow Azeri countrymen. Acclaimed Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, commissioned on behalf of YARAT, set out to make a “Portrait of a Country,” reflecting a unified vision of diversity, in the heterogeneous citizens of a city at the crossroads between contemporary Turkey, Russia, Iran, Armenia, and historical Persia, Albania, and the Ottoman Empire. The result is a tapestry of faces, portraits of over 50 individuals of varying ethnicities, from two to eighty years old. Neshat interviewed each subject about their connection to Azerbaijan, their concept of “Home” and their heartfelt responses are written in lines of detailed calligraphy overlaying their portraits.

Info: ”The Home of My Eyes”, Curating: Dina Nasser-Khadivi, YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Bayil District (Near National Flag Square), Baku, Duration: 24/3-23/6/15, Days & Hours: Daily: 11:00-20:00 except Tue: 11:00-22:00, www.yarat.az/en