Artist Shirin Neshat shifts her gaze from Iran to the U.S.

Click the play button above to hear Shirin Neshat's full conversation with Tom Power.

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian American artist who sees the complicated world of geopolitics as essential to her art. When Iran's Islamic Revolution happened in the late '70s, she was an art student studying in the U.S., and it took 11 years before she was able to go back. 

"Psychologically, economically and politically I felt cornered," she told Q's Tom Power in an interview. 

When she returned to Iran briefly in 1990, her first reaction was shock. "It was like the colour was lifted out of Iranian society and everything was black and white." 

But in that, Neshat also saw inspiration, presenting a new image of Iran for her to engage with. Since then, the award-winning visual artist and filmmaker has always made her art in exile. 

In a retrospective of her work at The Broad museum in Los Angeles, Neshat shifts her gaze from Iran to the U.S. Her new video and photography project is called Land of Dreams.

"I felt that it was important for me to turn my attention back to the U.S.," she says, especially given the current climate between the two countries. "I love this country but I can be critical of it, just like I love Iran but can be critical of that country." 

— Produced by ​Ben Edwards