The most famous storyteller in Middle Eastern culture is a woman, Scheherazade. In the “Thousand and One Nights,” she told stories to save her life. Her exalted status lends a grim irony to the fact that the lives of women in much of the Middle East are radically circumscribed — and it lends a defiant irony to the title of She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers From Iran and the Arab World. Organized by Kristen Gresh, the show runs at the Museum of Fine Arts through January 12th, 2014. Gresh is the MFA’s Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh assistant curator of photographs.

Read More: The Middle East Through Women’s Cameras