Shirin Neshat is an Iranian-born photographer based in New York. Her photographs have common symbols and styles that include the use of many different Muslim and Islamic references. These references include the arabic writing on various parts of the body, clothing, the unbroken stare directly towards the camera and the rifle/gun. In her photographic series, ‘Women of Allah’ 1993-1997, all of these things come together to display how Shirin Neshat uses her body to represent her identity.

Shirin Neshat challenges the idea of the oppression women face in her culture by using the text written on her body and certain props. This oppression began as the Iranian revolution took place in 1979, replacing an essentially westernised culture with an Islamic religious based one. Neshat portrays this in her series, especially with the image named ‘Rebellious Silence’ the gun, positioned in the same way as a finger over the mouth, is used in this image as a metaphor for the oppression which the women of Iran suffered and are still suffering after the revolution.