This photograph forms part of Neshat's Women of Allah series, created between 1993 and 1997 after the artist's first trip to Iran after the Revolution. The aesthetic of these black-and-white photographs, in which women (the artist and others) appear in veils (chadors), often bearing firearms, mimics newspaper clippings she gathered that depicted the involvement of women in the Iran-Iraq War. Neshat used these images to comment on the violence of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, after which she was barred from entering the country, and later on post-Revolution society in Iran. Historically, the role of women in Iran is fraught with repression and restriction. Thus, feminist poetry was an important source of inspiration for Neshat's series of photographs. The verses handwritten on the photographs reinforce Neshat's feminist beliefs (she often quotes the poet Furugh Farrukhzad) and also engage with images of violence. Visually the presence of writing on the faces, hands, and feet of the women depicted alludes to the silencing of women in Muslim society. Here, the written word acts as an analogue to the spoken word. The text inscribed on the photograph translates as: "I give a hand so I can be held."

This photograph is one of eleven works by various artists published in a portfolio in 1996 as a fundraiser for Exit Art gallery in New York.

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