Sarah Ahmad: My Oasis On Exhibit
December 7, 2018—January 4, 2019
From Krishna Adams, Director of Visual Arts, Craft, Media and Design –
Currently living in Memphis, first generation American and award-winning mixed media artist, Sarah Ahmad actively exhibits her work nationally as well as internationally. Her work has been on view at the LuminArte Gallery and the Eisenman Center in Dallas, Texas; the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, in California; the Yeiser Arts Center in Paducah, Kentucky; The Gallery at Watershed in Eugene, Oregon; Art Design Consultants in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates, Rohtas 2 Gallery in Lahore, Pakistan; and Koel Gallery in Karachi, Pakistan among others.
“My work explores transcendent identity and the rebuilding of life, evolving from my own cross-cultural identities as an immigrant, as a South Asian, as a naturalized American citizen, and as a woman. I develop new realities from broken parts by creating spaces that serve as sanctuaries and retreats from the upheavals of life; places for meditation and to experience wonderment,” states Ahmad.
In Memphis, her work has been exhibited at the Linda Ross Gallery, Circuitous Succession Gallery, Crosstown Arts, the Hyde Gallery, and Rust Hall. She was commissioned by the Regional One Hospital in Memphis for a public art project. Additionally, an installation by Ahmad was selected for the 2015 Flying Solo exhibition series at the Nashville International Airport that was sponsored by the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the State of Tennessee. Ahmad won the juror’s award at the New York Center for Photographic Art (NYC4PA) in New York. Ahmad has received a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center and was selected for residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the School of Visual Arts in New York City, the Paducah Arts Alliance, the Otis College of Art and Design, and most recently, the esteemed 2019 Tulsa Arts Fellowship in Oklahoma.
Works in this show include:
- Axis Mundi that references mapping, interior structures/organs, veins traversing the terrain like roadmaps, and are layered with references to explosions, oil spills, drifting debris or signifiers of destruction.
- Bolis about a woman’s multiple, veiled, paradoxical identities, and gaining self-knowledge or a voice.
- Kelp Explosion is like a starburst in the deep blue sky, a large burst of glory, an homage to the beautiful kelp forests.
Ahmad received an M.F.A. from the Memphis College of Art in Memphis, Tennessee; an M.A. in Education from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee; and B.A. in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan. Find additional information about Ahmad’s work at www.sarahahmad.com.
Located at the Tennessee Arts Commission, 401 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (formerly Charlotte Ave.,) Nashville, the gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. To be included on the gallery mailing list or to schedule a tour, contact Krishna at krishna.adams@tn.gov.
