Exhibitions
AFRUZ AMIGHI: THE PRESENCE OF YOUR ABSENCE IS EVERYWHERE
Frist Art Museum / 919 Broadway June 22, 2018 - September 16, 2018
Afruz Amighi
This exhibition presents recent sculptures and drawings by the critically acclaimed artist Afruz Amighi, who was born in Iran in 1974 and has lived in the United States since 1977. Her work is in the permanent collection of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2009, she received the inaugural Jameel Prize, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s prestigious international award for contemporary art and design inspired by the Islamic tradition. Using light and dark as her primary medium and telling stories in shadows, she creates sculptures made of industrial materials commonly found on urban construction sites. When illuminated, the sculptures defy their humble origins and mimic the effect of more decadent luxury objects, such as chandeliers, jewelry, and Persian metalwork. Recently, art deco architecture, Native American headdresses, and nuclear missiles have entered her repertoire of sources, alongside the art of the Middle East, as the artist engages with her mixed Iranian American heritage and current political events. The exhibition will include the suspended sculpture My House, My Tomb, which explores myths about the Taj Mahal and has never been exhibited in the United States.
Organized by The Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Use of the line “The presence of your absence is everywhere” adapted from a letter by poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, courtesy of Holly Peppe, Literary Executor, Millay Society, millay.org
Image: Afruz Amighi. My House, My Tomb, 2015. Steel, fiberglass mesh, chain, and light, 168 x 90 x 70 in. each. Courtesy of the artist. © Afruz Amighi. Photo: Jeffrey Sturges
