Anila Quayyum Agha: Shimmering Mirage

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Suspended in the lobby of One Liberty Plaza, artist Anila Quayyum Agha’s sculptural work, Shimmering Mirage, references the geometric patterns and motifs that are hallmarks of Islamic art and architecture and allude to the underlying order of the cosmos, the transcendental, and the symmetries of the natural world. Agha’s mesmerizing steel sculpture, perforated with an intricate cutout design and lit with a single light bulb, transforms even the simplest space into an enveloping and experiential world of patterned light and darkness, a nod to the geometrical patterning of Islamic sacred spaces. Although the steel form of the cube appears fragile, given the delicate cutout pattern that covers it, it is in fact resilient, hardy, even stubborn in nature, like human beings. Shimmering Mirage explores multiple binaries, such as public and private, light, and shadow, static and dynamic. With this work, Agha beckons visitors to take a few moments to contemplate the connections and commonalities between people of diverse backgrounds and cultures, with the hope that the experience is all at once weighty and weightless, transporting the viewer to a mysterious and sublime environment. 

Anila Quayyum Agha is internationally recognized for her award-winning large-scale installations that use light, shadow and pattern to create inclusive, immersive & shared experiences. International exhibitions include the Shirley Sherwood Galleries at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London; Kunsthaus Zürich; National Sculpture Museum, Valladolid, Spain; and the Chimei Museum, Taiwan. Agha’s work has been shown at international Art Fairs like Masterpiece London, Delhi Art Fair, Abu Dhabi Art Fair and the Armory Art Show, New York. Major awards include the 2019 Painters and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the 2021 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. In 2019, Agha’s work was included in She Persists at the Venice Biennale. Her work has been collected by institutions and private collectors nationally and internationally. (@anilaquayyumagha)

Artwork courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery.