The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

A black and white photograph of many people seated together in rows, divided by gender, with the women wearing black and the men mostly wearing white. They are all facing the same way: away from the camera. One woman turns her head, facing us.

Fervor

2000

Shirin Neshat

(American, born in Iran 1957)
America
gelatin silver print
Unframed: 167.6 x 117.2 cm (66 x 46 1/8 in.); Framed: 176.8 x 127.2 cm (69 5/8 x 50 1/16 in.)
Purchased with funds donated by William and Margaret Lipscomb in celebration of the museum’s centennial 2016.59
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

One woman looks at us, asking if we have the courage to stand up, stand out from the crowd, and be counted.

Description

Shirin Neshat uses photography and video to expose the role of gender in the creation of power structures and social values. During Friday prayers, a vital communal practice in Islam, men and women are required to sit separately, divided by a cloth wall. One woman turns her head to challenge that separation.
  • Shirin Neshat (the artist) [1957-]
    (Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY)
    Private Collection
    November 18, 2008
    (Sotheby's, London, United Kingdom)
    2008-2016
    Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, Scarsdale, NY
    September 6, 2016
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Babaie, Sussan, Rebecca R. Hart, Nancy Princenthal, and Shirin Neshat. Shirin Neshat. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 2013.
    Neshat, Shirin, and Giorgio Verzotti. Shirin Neshat: Castello di Rivoli, museo d'arte contemporanea. Milano: Charta, 2002.
    Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Acquisition Highlights 2016: Photography.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 27-28. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 27 archive.org
  • Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 2018-October 28, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Fervor|url=false|author=Shirin Neshat|year=2000|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.59