Shirin Neshat Addresses Iranian President at the WEF in Davos Favorite 

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian visual artist who works and resides in New York City. Her work refers to the social, political and religious codes of Muslim societies. She particularly addresses the psychological dimensions of women's experience in contemporary islamic societies. Using Persian poetry and calligraphy she has examined concepts such as martyrdom, space of exile, and the issues of identity and femininity. This past January, Neshat was invited to Davos by the World Economic Forum to receive a Crystal Award. These awards are given each year to artists who no only excel in their art, but also help to improve the world around them. In her acceptance speech delivered to President Rouhani and other global leaders, she praised the importance of culture in times of political crisis, calling on the Iranian president Rouhani to respect artists' voices and build a new image for her native country.

" Mr. President, this is from me: Take care of your artists, your intellectuals, and accept that art is no crime, that it is every artist’s responsibility to make art that is meaningful, that questions tyranny, that questions injustice. It is the artist’s task to advocate change, peace and unity." - Shirin Neshat