Malala Yousafzai (1997-), Activist and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Sitter in 3 portraits.
This is one of a pair of portraits (see also NPG 7052) by Iranian-born artist and film-maker Shirin Neshat. Neshat took a series of photographs before selecting two, onto which she has hand inscribed in calligraphy a poem by the Pashto poet Rahmat Shah Sayel from Peshawar, written in 2011. The artist recalled: 'I knew of Malala as an extraordinary young woman … when I look back on our encounter, I am left with impressions of humility, wisdom and a rare sense of inner beauty.'
