Narrating Self, Depicting the Other

The American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler believes that 'our capacity to reflect upon ourselves, to tell the truth about ourselves, is correspondingly limited by what the discourse, the regime, cannot allow into speakability' (Giving an Account of Oneself). This review analyses how Shamissa Hassani (b.1988), the first female graffiti artist of Afghanistan, and Keyvan Shovir (b. 1985), the first postrevolutionary graffiti artist of Iran, manifest Butler’s view of giving an account of oneself. I argue that Hassani and Shovir have used their arts as a means of speakability and self-reflection in the restricted discourses of their home countries. I conclude that art manifests the possibility of self-revelation and reclaiming one’s voice beyond the restricted social discourses or diaspora.