Rapture, 1999

In 1999 Parkin purchased this piece—a still from a video work—after seeing the Iranian artist’s acclaimed exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. A longtime advocate of video art, Parkin has been adamant that collectors should expand their horizons to display video in their homes and offices.

“I bought this piece right away after I saw it at the Art Institute of Chicago. The show was so exciting. It featured two screens, each with a black and white video projection in which a study in the differences between the way Muslim men and women react to a hostile crisis in Morocco unfolds on facing walls. Using photography and film Neshat explored the social and cultural role of women in the Islamic world.

“In this work, which is a still from one of the videos, there was going to be an attack on the village, and Neshat recorded the responses of the men and the women, which were totally different. The men climbed up onto a turret and got their guns out to defend themselves. The women, on the other hand, did some praying on the beach, then got into boats and went out into the water. This piece documents the moment when the artist was moving down to the beach where she filmed the women, who like a flock of crows descended on the water before getting into boats and disappearing at sea. Whether they will find freedom or martyrdom is unclear.”