DUBAI: A colorful abstract painting by the Iraqi American artist Vian Sora has recently entered the collection of the 1914-founded Baltimore Museum of Art, in Maryland, in the US.
Sora’s painting, “Last Sound,” was part of a museum initiative to diversify its collection by acquiring more than 100 multicultural objects.
In a statement, the BMA said one of its goals had been to, “bring forward new and under-recognized voices from across the globe and to uplift artists with ties to Baltimore and the surrounding region.”
Sora, who is based in Louisville, Kentucky, told Arab News that “Last Sound,” which was completed last year, had previously been on display at her representative art gallery, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, where it caught the attention of the BMA’s curator of contemporary art, Jessica Bell Brown, and several museum trustees.
She said: “They selected it for their permanent collection, which is a huge honor.”
While attempts have been and are being made by Western museums to acquire works by Arab artists, it is still something of a rarity.
“We are still so under-represented in the US, in a way that something like this acquisition is huge on a moral level for me.
“I’m hoping this will pave the way for other artists. This is not about money, fame, or power, but it’s about a cultural connection on a human level,” she added.
Through flowing shapes on her canvas, Sora taps into some of the personal challenges she has faced.
She said: “It was just me dealing with all this anguish. I was dealing with my family’s immigration, moving them from Dubai. Everything was going wrong with their immigration.
“I also had a hysterectomy and was dealing with my new identity as a woman. That splash in the painting became like a scream.”
For the work, she was also inspired by the veteran Sudanese painter Ibrahim El-Salahi’s 1960s painting “The Last Sound,” owned by the Barjeel Art Foundation in the UAE.
It is a symbolist artwork, containing calligraphy, animals, and moons, that was made shortly after the death of El-Salahi’s father. Sora noted that her own work was in honor of El-Salahi’s signature piece.
Sora has also had another of her works purchased, by California’s Santa Barbara Museum of Art. And she will take part, for the second time, at New York’s leading art fair, The Armory Show, in September.
