Tooba (2002) dir. Shirin Neshat

Her poetic twochannel video installation Tooba is based on the Koran, in which Tooba, the sacred tree of paradise, offers shelter and sustenance to those in need. Neshats video places a woman within a groove in the trunk of a large fig tree, symbolising its soul. They stand, alone, in a stonewalled garden set in a mountainous landscape. Men and women draw near and enter the enclosure, seeking refuge, as the Toobawoman disappears into the Toobatree. The piece is ambiguous. Who has agency Is it the crowd, who invade the garden or the treewoman who draws them towards her like a magnet Tooba is dedicated to Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipour, whose novel Women without Men concerns five women sojourning in a garden, one of whom is transformed into a tree.