Ahmed, from Our House Is on Fire series

In the Our House Is on Fire series, Shirin Neshat photographed Egyptians who were impacted by the Arab Spring, a series of protests and demonstrations throughout the Middle East and North Africa that began in 2010 in Tunisia. Citizens took to the streets and squares to protest corruption, poverty, and human rights violations long upheld by oppressive governments. The photos are the only examples of a direct, documentary approach thus far in the artist’s work. The faces shown—inscribed with poetry written so small as to be virtually unreadable—join images of feet and hands photographed in a New York morgue.