DATE: 11/27/2012 | BY CORY REYNOLDS

The New York Times Holiday Gift Guide Recommends: Fertile Crescent

Last week, The New York Times published its annual Books for Art Lovers Holiday Gift Guide, recommending a surprising star from our list: THE FERTILE CRESCENT: GENDER, ART, AND SOCIETY, an investigation of "art being made by women all across the Middle East." Karen Rosenberg recommends the book "for any curator interested in recent art from the region — or, for that matter, anyone curious to know how artists are responding to the instability of the past couple of years." She continues, "The artist profiles, which make up the bulk of the book, cover a lot of ground; they include some museum and art market stars like Ghada Amer, Mona Hatoum and Shirin Neshat, but also many younger women with less exposure in the United States. Those to watch include the performance artist Fatima Al Qadiri, who directed transvestites in a video series about Kuwaiti housewives; Hayv Kahraman, who paints mysterious beauty rituals in a style derived from Persian miniatures; and Parastou Forouhar, whose photograph of a woman’s hand emerging from a patterned veil graces the book’s cover. Featured image, a staged shot for the performance "Red Freedom" (2008), is by Ayana Friedman.