This week Vian Sora joined us to discuss Vian Sora: Outerworlds which is now on exhibit at The Speed Museum. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.
Vian Sora: Outerworlds is part of Current Speed, a series of contemporary art exhibitions that introduce the Kentuckiana community to new and emerging artists as well as celebrated mid-career artists previously underrecognized in the region. Current Speed exhibitions are open to the public and included with general museum admission. The series is initiated and organized by Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, and now based in Louisville, artist Vian Sora (b. 1976) creates dazzlingly layered abstractions that channel the turbulence of history, memory, and the natural world. Outerworlds—her first solo museum exhibition in the United States—assembles major works from the past ten years, charting her transformation into one of today’s most distinctive voices in painting.
Sora’s practice emerges directly from lived experience. Having grown up amid the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, she witnessed the devastation of her homeland firsthand. Forced to leave Iraq, she eventually resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, where her practice has flourished.