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# A Poetic Response to Shirin Neshat’s Photographs
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sholeh-wolpe-shirin-neshat-the-broad/
- Published: 2019-12-11T19:15:54.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:43:29.000Z
- Description: In conjunction with the exhibition, the Broad has organized The Logic of Poetry and Dreams, a series of talks and readings with poets, scholars, and artists who will reflect upon Neshat’s work.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, California, Events, Los Angeles, Shirin Neshat, The Broad, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:41 (2019, 2020, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/12/12-12-19-sholeh-wolpe-no-credit.jpg)

Sholeh Wolpé (image courtesy the Broad)

The written word — whether in poetry or scripture — has been an integral element of Persian art for centuries, with books and architecture often elaborately decorated with texts. This tradition continues in the work of Iranian-born, New York-based artist Shirin Neshat, who often covers the hands, bodies, and faces of her photographic subjects in stark black Persian calligraphy. The title of her current 30-year retrospective at the Broad, [*I Will Greet The Sun Again*](https://www.thebroad.org/shirinneshat?ref=hyperallergic.com), is itself borrowed from a work by Iranian poet [Forugh Farrokhzad](http://farrokhzadpoems.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The exhibition includes photographs and video installations that explore issues of identity, displacement, feminism, and political turbulence with breathtaking beauty and grace.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/12/photo-joshua_white-jwpictures-com-8901.jpg)

“Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again” at the Broad, installation view of the “Land of Dreams” portrait gallery (Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com, courtesy The Broad.)

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Broad has organized [*The Logic of Poetry and Dreams,*](https://www.thebroad.org/events/logic-poetry-and-dreams-sholeh-wolpe?ref=hyperallergic.com) a series of talks and readings with poets, scholars, and artists who will reflect upon Neshat’s work. This week, the museum is hosting Iranian-born poet [Sholeh Wolpé](https://www.sholehwolpe.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who will be reading sections from her published volume of poetry, [*Keeping Time with Blue Hyacinths*](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781557286284?aff=hyperallergic&ref=hyperallergic.com), as well as new, unreleased poems. She will be reading in a gallery featuring works from Neshat’s *Women of Allah* series, as well as her *Soliloquy* series, which include photos of the artist and female members of her family never before shown. The event offers a unique perspective on history, exile, and Iranian womanhood, as explored in both word and image.

**When:** Thursday, December 12, 7–7:30pm  
**Where:** The Broad (221 S. Grand Ave., Downtown, Los Angeles)

*More info at* [*the Broad*](https://www.thebroad.org/events/logic-poetry-and-dreams-sholeh-wolpe?ref=hyperallergic.com)