A Loss for Words

A pair of hands is shown slowly opening in a gesture of prayer, revealing a fragment of Iranian poetry written on the palms in the artist’s own script. No longer contained, the words begin to drift apart and spill gently down the palms, wrists and arms. The hands come back together and the movement repeats in a continuous cycle of revealing and letting go. Contained within “this simple, poetic, yet subversive gesture,” explains Neshat, “is the notion of one’s desire to speak—to express oneself, even if discreetly.”

The collection consists of ten different texts, each selected by the artist from the work of well-known Iranian poets, including Simin Behbahani, Forugh Farrokhzad, Sohrab Sepehri, Ahmad Shamlou and Nima Yushij.

Ten percent of primary sales, as well as three percent of secondary sales on platforms that support creator royalties, will go to The Brooklyn Rail, a nonprofit organization selected by Neshat.