“The Other”- Nineteenth Century Orientalism and its Legacy with Particular Reference to a Contemporary Response by Shirin Neshat

Emma McDonnell
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2002
BA

Subject: Painting
Country: Western Europe and Iran
Period: 19th and 20th Century

10,000 words

This dissertation challenges the viewpoint of Western art, the viewpopint of the Male, West and Christian, by examining the art of a Female, Eastern and Muslim artist. The dissertation begins the challenge by discussing how Western art has traditionally delt with Oriental subject matter and discusses the origins of Orientalism and the representation of Eastern women in Western art. This is set down as a contrast to the representation of Oriental women from an alternative artistic viewpoint, that of the artist Shirin Neshat, an Iranian, Female, Muslim artist, whose work is a response to traditional western art. The dissertation discusses the concept of “The Other” and the stereotypical images of the East produced by the West. The film and photographic work of Shirin Neshat which challenges such stereotypes is analysed and discussed as work with a multi-cultural significance.

Irish Georgian Society

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“The Other”- Nineteenth Century Orientalism and its Legacy with Particular Reference to a Contemporary Response by Shirin Neshat