Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Anila Quayyum Agha has a BFA from The National College of Arts and a MFA in Fiber Arts at the University of North Texas. Her projects and works approach multiculturalism with an accent on transmitting social messages, explore and propose challenging concepts which combine artistic action to social experience.
The Project „Intersections”, presented in the following images, invites the watcher to discover the contradictory nature of the intersections, to explore the antagonist nature of light and shadow, public and private, static and dynamic, based on the symmetry of a geometric design inspired by Islamic sacred spaces. Anila Quayyum Agha uses light in order to propose the exploration of the interpretative shapes of geometric design, showing the interaction between nature and the created design, as well as the impact for the watcher.
Anila presents this project: „In the city of Lahore, where I grew up, the mosque was not only a place of worship, but also the repository of the public art form. Thousands of mosques were spread all over the city, filled with bouquets of calligraphic writing and geometric symmetry that embrace pilgrims five times a day. But like the millions of women in Lahore, there was no space for me in any of these mosques, the dictates of culture relegating us all to praying at home. It is this seminal experience of being excluded from a space of community and creativity that resonated with me when I visited Moorish Spain and experienced the historic site of the Alhambra. To my amazement I discovered the complex expressions of both wonder and exclusion that have been my experience while growing up in Pakistan. This installation emulates patterns from the Alhambra, which was poised at the intersection of history, culture and art and was a place where Islamic and Western discourses, met and co-existed in harmony and served as a testament to the symbiosis of difference.”
This big cube, made wood, introduces us, with the help of light, in a game of shadows, oferring a unique experience which underlines the geometrical purity and beauty. For more interesting projects, visit Anila Quayyum Agha website!
