A burqa’s eye view

By Olivia Weinberg

Contemporary art from the Middle East has been steadily building interest ever since 9/11, and the photography scene in particular is booming. For the first time ever, it is the women who are shouting loudest. "She Who Tells a Story", at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, makes a brave statement. It pulls together the work of 12 hungry photographers to highlight the rich creativity of a region too often seen as being all about conflict. Kristen Gresh, assistant curator of photographs at the MFA, has run into fierce opposition after deciding to group female artists from the Arab world under one umbrella. "Associating artistic imagination with geography, or gender," she concedes, "runs the risk of creating a deceptive simplicity that is exactly what this project aims to avoid." But she is unfazed, and determined to display the diversity of what she sees as some of the most compelling photography of our time. "It’s about putting art and culture before politics."

The images will do most of the talking for her. Some are full of energy, life and lustre, others gritty and drenched in pain, all with a story to tell. "Don’t Forget This Is Not You" (above), 2010, is part of "Listen", a series by Newsha Tavakolian, who has created a set of imaginary CD covers for a group of professional female singers forbidden to record or perform in public in their native land, Iran. Born in 1981, Tavakolian represents a generation of young, post-revolutionary Iranian photographers, who continue to push boundaries but remain firmly attached to their national identity.