Montien Boonma, Shirin Neshat's Rebellious Silence

The work of an artist is an expression and an extension of an artist's belief and/or disbeliefs on a certain topic. The artist conveys their belief in many different ways, some of which can result in literal forms or some with more abstract meanings. The artist could do a piece to convey a variety of different expressions such as the beauty of an object or their views on the world, being politics or religion in particular. The main connections to these artists and their work is the symbol of belief due to either their cultural upbringing or their own personal view of life, which may have had an influence of some sort.

In the following I will discuss and analyse the works of Montien Boonma, Shirin Neshat and Frida Kahlo in comparison with my

Her work often addressed the theme of alienation of women in repressed muslim societies and the stereotype that western society has on them. In this particular portrait she tries to portray her culture and beliefs through the female warriors during the Iran revolution. The portrait shows a stereotypical view that the western world has of the Middle East through the use of the The writing on the face, the veil, the gun and the use of Kohl (also known as Kajal and Surma however in Iran it's known as kohal) under the woman's eye. The practice of kohl originated in the middle east derived from the ancient egyptians and is the practice of contouring or darkening one's eyelids in this case the under eyelid mainly. This is a significant symbol because in the islamic culture it is known that the Prophet Mohammed used kohl and believed it was beneficial to the eyes, to this day it is still used as tradition by the muslims during events like Ramadan to show their devotion. However in the way that Neshat is displaying the use of the Kohl it can either suggest the devotion to her religion and culture or the known stereotype that the western society has on the middle east. Another way in which Shirin Neshat tries to portray her culture is with the composition and the use of the weapon. While the composition—characterized by the hard edge of her dark

It uses the same medium as they both use which is photography and pen. Like Shirin it again depicts a message on my face. Mine being religious. I have decided to again incorporate the technique which Shirin uses with the writing on the face, however I have decided to write onto the printed out version of the photograph to make it more abstract and shows that it has a bit more influence of Shirin’s technique. The way that Montiens work influenced me was the way he positioned himself in front of the camera for that over all happy look with a bright smile and head slightly tilting up suggestion looking up at something and happy. Keeping the techniques of both artists I have also incorporated my personality and mainly my religion into this piece by using words derived from the bible. Another way in which I have made it my own is by writing not only on my face but also expanding it onto my hair and neck, unlike what the two artists did.

Depicting Frida Kahlo’s style of incorporating my culture and beliefs, I have been a lot more expressive about my beliefs and have tried to portray them more vividly in my works. In her works she as well did a un idealistic self portrait using bold and vibrant colours. By second piece uses a simplistic headshot of me as well however I added text and