Nasim Nasr

b. 1984 in Tehran, Iran
Working in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia
Showing at Asia Society Museum
On view October 27, 2020, through February 7, 2021
Nasim Nasr

Nasim Nasr, 33 Beads (Unworried) #1, 2018. Single-channel digital high-definition video. Duration: 1 minutes, 47 seconds. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012

Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012. Seven-channel digital high-definition video installation with sound. Duration, each: 1 minute. Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, 33 Beads (Unworried) #1, 2018, Courtesy of the artist.

Installation view of Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone at Asia Society Museum, New York, October 27, 2020–June 27, 2021. Nasim Nasr, 33 Beads (Unworried) #1, 2018, Courtesy of the artist. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2020

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist.

Installation view of Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone at Asia Society Museum, New York, October 27, 2020–June 27, 2021. Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2020

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist

Installation view of Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone at Asia Society Museum, New York, October 27, 2020–June 27, 2021. Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2020

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist

Installation view of Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone at Asia Society Museum, New York, October 27, 2020–June 27, 2021. Nasim Nasr, What to Do?, 2012, Courtesy of the artist. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2020

Location: Asia Society Museum
Nasim Nasr, 33 Beads #4, 2018

Nasim Nasr, 33 Beads #4, 2018. Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. H. 39 3/8 x W. 31 1/2 in. (100 x 80 cm). Courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist

Nasim Nasr uses her experience as a diasporic artist to illuminate the complexities associated with a multivalent identity and how cultural differences in the East and West have the potential to produce disjuncture within the global community. Utilizing video, photography, performance, sculpture, installation, and sound to illustrate the ways that divergent cultural interpretations of objects and actions influence their meanings, the artist decontextualizes ethnically specific behaviors as a means to reveal hidden truths. The artist received a BA in graphic design from the Tehran University of Art in 2006 and an MA in visual arts, architecture, and design from the University of South Australia, Adelaide, in 2011.


What to Do? is a seven-channel video installation that deconstructs the predominately male practice of carrying tasbih in public—religious prayer beads, also known as “worry beads”—as a religious and psychological tool to allay anxiety when passing time. The monitors, hung at waist height, feature anonymous men’s hands fingering the beads. This imagery conjures the commonalities of prayer among different faiths, from Islam to Buddhism to Catholicism. A related work from 2018, 33 Beads (Unworried) #1, is a single-channel video that also features worry beads. However, in this iteration, a group of women grasp and ultimately destroy this talisman, metaphorically defying patriarchal traditions, in their struggle to either hold on or let go. 

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