Anila Quayyum Agha rebuilds sacred spaces
For Anila Quayyum Agha, strength can be found in fragility. The Pakistani-American artist’s work is influenced by the discrimination she has faced throughout her life—but through large-scale installations, she transforms perceived weakness into power.
Growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, Agha was drawn to architecture from a young age. However, she was excluded from many of these places—such as prayer rooms in mosques—due to her gender. Instead, she stood on the outside looking in, yearning for entry to male-only spaces.
In 1989, Agha earned a BFA in textile design from the National College of the Arts, Lahore. From there, she made the tough decision to leave her homeland behind and migrate to the United States. Though she faced less gender discrimination outside of Pakistan, she was met with different obstacles at the University of Northern Texas, where she pursued an MFA program in fiber arts. Critiques labeled her work as too decorative and feminine to be relevant, and she was encouraged to reference more Euro-Western ideas in her practice.
Agha didn’t let their words dim her spirit. She continued to pursue art on her own terms, inspired by the architecture, fabrics, and colors of her South Asian heritage. In addition to her fiber art, Agha began experimenting with large-scale metal structures, leading to her critically acclaimed work Intersections (2013). When the piece took home the 2014 ArtPrize, she became the first artist to win both the public and jury prize for the competition.
Her lacquered-steel cubes are laser cut with intricate designs inspired by Islamic architectural latticework. Bright lightbulbs live inside the suspended structures, illuminating dark rooms and spilling ornate geometric patterns onto the surrounding surfaces. Her exploration of binaries cultivates an immersive and emotional environment for guests, who are physically covered by the shadows.
By transforming a typically masculine material, she infiltrates the male space and spotlights the stories of women, migrants, and other disadvantaged groups. Agha uses her experiences of exclusion to create inclusive environments—reconstructing the buildings of her childhood and unlocking their doors. Although her work is deeply personal, everyone is welcome in the spaces she creates. She hopes engaging with the installations encourages visitors from all walks of life to consider new perspectives, prompting them to learn more about diverse cultures and speak up for communities facing discrimination.
Agha continues to construct these steel installations, which have graced galleries all over the world and revitalized public spaces, including a park in her adopted hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Along with her 3D structures, her social commentary is infused in her flatworks, including embroidery, beading, paintings, and drawings.
Agha’s solo exhibition Geometry of Light opens at the Seattle Asian Art Museum on August 27.
—Sara Butler, Marketing Copywriter
Image credits:
A Beautiful Despair (Blue), 2021, Anila Quayyum Agha, Pakistani-American, b. 1965, lacquered steel and halogen bulb, 60 x 60 x 60 inches, Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery, NYC, the artist, © Anila Quayyum Agha, photo courtesy of Masterpiece Art Fair, London, UK.
Warhead II (detail, framed), 2023, Anila Quayyum Agha, Pakistani-American, b. 1965, mixed media on paper and mylar (cut paper, encaustic, embroidery, and beads), 37 1/4 x 29 in., Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery, NYC, and the artist, © Anila Quayyum Agha, photo: Randy Pace
A Beautiful Despair (Blue), 2021, Anila Quayyum Agha, Pakistani-American, b. 1965, lacquered steel and halogen bulb, 60 x 60 x 60 inches, Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery, NYC, the artist, © Anila Quayyum Agha, photo: Steve Watson/Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX.
This is Not a Refuge! (2), 2019, Anila Quayyum Agha, Pakistani-American, b. 1965, laser-cut, resin coated aluminum, light bulb, 93 x 58 x 72 in., Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery, NYC, and the artist, © Anila Quayyum Agha, photo courtesy of Columbia Museum, Columbia, NC.