Exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art (Feb 25 – June 17, 2018) Katonah Museum of Art Presents Contemporary Legacy of Islamic Art

The Katonah Museum of Art is pleased to present Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition. This exhibition features a group of thirty-one artists of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent whose work engages the diverse forms of Islamic visual tradition. Long, Winding Journeys is the first exhibition on the subject in an East Coast museum, and with fifty works of art in all media, it is a trailblazing examination of the subject in the United States.

Faig Ahmed, Impossible Viscosity, 2012. Handmade woolen carpet, 98 1/2 x 39 1/4 inches / © Faig Ahmed and Cuadro Gallery / Collection of Beth RudinDeWoody / Image Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary and the artist

Long, Winding Journeys presents artists’ stories with sumptuous visual texture, featuring lush color and highly detailed imagery. They draw from centuries-old forms—such as calligraphy, miniature painting, geometric patterning, textiles, and architecture—that have come to define Islamic art. Employing this lineage, artists explore the intersection of visual traditions and other kinds of inherited histories. They examine the rich meaning and complex strictures of religious and cultural customs; rituals of spiritual practice; political conflict; and diaspora’s effect on identity. Art of the past acts as a lens through which to view present-day experience. The title is drawn from a text by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, which appears in the exhibition in a collaboration with artist Shahzia Sikander. Akhtar’s poem situates Islam as an inspirational force guiding creative life on a “long, winding, journey.”

Hassan Massoudy, Untitled, 2005. Ink and Pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches / © Sundaram Tagore Gallery and the artist / Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Afruz Amighi, Warrior’s Headdress, 2017. Steel, fiberglass mesh, chain, light, 38 x 44 x 14 inches / © AfruzAmighi / Courtesy of the artist and Leila Heller Gallery

Artists include Anila Agha, Faig Ahmed, Ammar Al Attar, Noor Ali Chagani, Khadim Ali, Shiva Ahmadi, Ghada Amer, Afruz Amighi, Nazgol Ansarinia, Nasser Al Salem, Fereydoun Ave, Shoja Azari, Ala Ebtekar, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Shadi Ghadirian, Babak Golkar, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hefuna, Shirazeh Houshiary, Pouran Jinchi, Hayv Kahraman, Baseera Khan, Hassan Massoudy, Jordan Nassar, Shirin Neshat, Hadieh Shafie, Shahzia Sikander and Ayad Akhtar, Kurosh ValaNejad and Peter Brinson, and Imran Qureshi.

Ala Ebtekar, Zenith V, 2014. Acrylic over cyanotype on canvas, Four panels at 60 ¼ x 30 ¼ x 2 ¼ inches each / © AlaEbtekar / Courtesy of the artist

Ammar Al Attar, Untitled from the Prayer Room series (UAE 89990006), 2012. C-print, 16 ½ x 23 ½ inches / © Ammar Al Attar / Courtesy of the artist

This exhibition is organized by Associate Curator, Elizabeth Rooklidge, with research assistance from Curatorial Intern, Caitlin Monachino, and Assistant Curator, Olga Dekalo. The exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of Janet Benton, Robin Simon, Betty Himmel, Yvonne Pollack, Marilyn Glass, Vanessa Diebold, Katherine Moore, and Ellen Grimes.Exhibition programming support is made possible in part by Humanities New York.

Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition will be on view at the Katonah Museum of Art until June 17, 2018.