Sacred Shadows

Intersections (2013), is a sculptural installation created by Anila Quayyum Agha, a Pakistani-American artist.  Simple in its materials and artistic method, the effect is a powerfully elegant, original work of art that wondrously transforms a room into an ethereal space filled with intricate shadowy geometric patterns enwrapping gallery visitors who then become a reflecting element of the artwork.  Agha said her art is influenced by personal experiences as well as the complex social and political issues of our time, and the intent with the Intersections installation was “to give substance to mutualism” while exploring the disparate views of “public and private, light and shadow, and static and dynamic”.  It was awarded grand prizes in the 2014 international ArtPrize competition, and later exhibited at the Rice Gallery in Houston, Texas as well as the Peabody Essex Museum and Indiana State Museum.

The video documentary, “Intersections”, produced by Walley Films, is an exceptional opportunity to view this transcending work of art as Anila Quayyum Agha recounts her inspiration, discoveries, and creative process.

Resources/Information:

From October 13, 2017 until March 10, 2018, Anila Quayyum Agha’s art installation Shimmering Mirage can be viewed at the Battleboro Museum & Art Center in Vermont.  The museum’s curator, Mara Williams, has described the exhibit as an experience that transports visitors to a “mysterious, even sacred, environment”.  Agha’s goals in creating Shimmering Mirage were “to explore the binaries of public and private, light and shadow, static and dynamic, and the expansive nature of spirituality and human interconnections.  Adorned with delicate, cutout patterns, the steel form of the sculpture appears fragile, but its material is resilient, hardy, even stubborn in nature—like humans.  The installation magnifies the sculpture’s floral and geometric motifs to inhabit a large space, covering and beautifying all within it, and suggesting the underlying orderliness of the cosmos revealed through the purity and symmetry of geometric design”.

Anila Quayyum Agha website anilaagha.com
Past Installation, Rice Gallery
ArtPrize, Grand Rapids Michigan (Intersections).  ArtPrize is an annual public art event and international competition.

Watch:  CREATIVE PERSPECTIVES  A diverse group of artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life in this On2In2™ collection of short video documentaries.  It’s an interesting and inspiring bunch.

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Feature photo:  Still shot from video documentary, “Intersections” © Mark & Angela Walley