calligraphic inscription in ink on the image, flush-mounted, signed on the reverse, framed, a Guggenheim Museum exhibition label on the reverse, 1995, no. 2 in an edition of 3

Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, 1995

New York, Thread Waxing Space, Collection in Context: Selected Contemporary Photographs of Hands from the Collection of Henry M. Buhl, September - October 1996, and 8 other national and international venues through 1999 (see Appendix 1)

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection, June - September 2004, and 4 other international venues through 2007 (see Appendix 1)

West Palm Beach, Norton Museum of Art, A Show of Hands: Photographs and Sculpture from the Buhl Collection, January - March 2008

Seoul, South Korea, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Asian tour), March - May 2009, and 2 other Asian venues through 2011 (see Appendix 1)

Marianne Courville, Collection in Context: Selected Contemporary Photographs of Hands from the Collection of Henry M. Buhl (New York, 1996), pl. 30 (this print)

Jennifer Blessing, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Guggenheim Foundation, 2004), pp. 59 and 237 (this print)

Although this photograph has not been examined out of its frame, it appears to be in generally excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Stories of Martyrdom is from Iranian-born Shirin Neshat's seminal Women of Allah series, the work that established her as a mature artist. These stark and powerful images of women, covered in the traditional black chador, are explorations into the contradictions of Iran’s Islamic culture, especially complex for women. In an interview with Heyoka Magazine, Neshat stated that her aim in Women of Allah was to create images of 'self-assured and dignified women who seem proud both by the power of their militancy and their sexuality.'

Neshat conceived of Women of Allah after her first visit back to her homeland in 1990, returning almost two decades after she moved to California to study art.  Stunned by the changes, she set out to examine the new Iran in the context of both her own life and the life of the society at large. One of the most visible transformations was the attire required of women.  Amei Wallach, to whom this entry is indebted, has discussed the role of the chador in Neshat’s work and in Islamic culture, labeling it ‘political territory’ for both Iran and the West.  For the West, it is the visible outward symbol of the Islamist revolution; for Iranian women since the turn of the 20^th century, it has been required or not, depending on the regime in power.  Since 1980, Iran’s morality police have enforced the wearing of the hijab ("Shirin Neshat, Islamic Counterpoints," Art in America, October 2001, pp. 136-142 and 189).

In the photograph offered here, the black of the chador contrasts starkly with the whiteness of the sitter’s hands.  Hands, sometimes Neshat’s own, are a key component of many of her photographs, the body apart from the chador.  In other Neshat images, women’s hands hold rifles, a hand points a pistol, a hand is raised to the closed lips of a silent woman, or a group of women make a circle of hands, as in Lot 334.  For the present image, Neshat has selected as her text verses from the Iranian feminist writer Monirou Ravanipour, who lost her 19-year-old brother to anti-Shah forces in 1979.  It reads in part ‘The earth was trembling . . . children were running to their mother’s arms . . .the ugly, black hand had wrapped around the moon . . . the moon was choking, dying before the women’s eyes.’