Neshat Shirin - Untitled (Chest) — from Unveiling series

Untitled (Chest) — from Unveiling series

1993 — new limited edition

Artist: Shirin Neshat
Title: Untitled (Chest), from Unveiling series
Series: Unveiling (1993)
Original Year: 1993
Medium: Archival pigment print with matte varnish seal and silkscreen calligraphy layer on Somerset Tub Sized Radiant White 410gsm
Dimensions: 42 × 33.2 cm (unframed)
Edition: 96 
Signature: Signed "Shirin Neshat" lower right
Certificate: Certificate of Authenticity included
Frame: Unframed

Description: 

Untitled (Chest) (1993/2024) is one of the most intimate and formally powerful images in Shirin Neshat's Unveiling series — a close-up of a woman's chest and throat, the skin covered entirely in two registers of Farsi script: a dense layer of fine handwritten text drawn from the poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad, Iran's most celebrated and most radical feminist poet, overlaid in the centre by larger, bolder calligraphic characters that dominate the image with the authority of a declaration. The face is not shown. The body is the page.

The Unveiling series (1993) was among the first bodies of work Neshat produced after her return to Iran in 1990 following seventeen years in exile — a confrontation with a country she no longer fully recognised, and with the political and religious transformation of women's lives under the Islamic Republic. Rather than condemning the veil or adopting a straightforwardly Western feminist position, Neshat constructed images of profound ambiguity: the covered and the uncovered body are both sites of inscription, both subjected to the text of ideology and the text of resistance simultaneously. The calligraphy is not censorship — it is language claiming the body as its own territory.

Forugh Farrokhzad (1935–1967) — the poet whose words cover this body — was a watershed figure in Iranian literature: a woman who wrote openly about desire, autonomy, and the female body in a cultural context that demanded silence, and whose death at 32 in a car accident ended a career that had already permanently changed Iranian poetry. Her presence on the skin of Neshat's subjects connects the photographic image to a longer tradition of women's resistance in Iranian culture, and makes the text as much a portrait as the body it covers.

This edition translates Neshat's uniting of photography and handwritten calligraphy into print form, with a silkscreen calligraphy layer applied over the archival pigment base — produced in close collaboration with the artist at Make-Ready, London. Printed on Somerset Tub Sized Radiant White 410gsm, signed by the artist lower right, numbered 42/96 from an edition of 96, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

FAQ 

Is this an original Shirin Neshat print?
Yes — an original archival pigment print with silkscreen calligraphy layer, signed by the artist, numbered /96, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

What is the Unveiling series?
Unveiling (1993) is a landmark series of black-and-white photographs by Shirin Neshat exploring the politics of women's lives in Islamic countries, integrating text from the radical Iranian feminist poet Forugh Farrokhzad. Rather than criticising the veil, the works probe its complexity, resisting the transposition of Western feminist politics onto Islamic cultures.

Who is Forugh Farrokhzad?
Forugh Farrokhzad (1935–1967) is Iran's most celebrated and most radical feminist poet — a watershed figure who wrote openly about desire, autonomy, and the female body, permanently changing Iranian literature before her death at 32. Her poetry is the text inscribed on the skin of Neshat's subjects.

What is the edition size?
96 impressions. This example is numbered /96.

Who produced this print?
Make-Ready, a London-based fine art print studio, in close collaboration with Shirin Neshat — ensuring the artist's direct involvement in every aspect of the edition's production.

Is a certificate of authenticity included?
Yes — included with every impression.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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