Vian Sora
Vian Sora is an Iraqi American artist whose sensuous paintings address the tensions of abstraction and realism through the personal lens of conflict and displacement. The body of works underlying this conversation, Sky From Below, are showing at David Nolan Gallery from March 7th to May 3, 2025. Starting in 2026, the Speed Art Museum, Asia Society Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present a landmark survey exhibition of her art.
Over a period of days Dr Omar Kholeif and the artist Vian Sora corresponded via voice notes that they sent back and forth in a call and response manner. Kholeif was in Sharjah then in London then in Sharjah again; Sora was in Dubai then in Louisville, KY. The topics of painting, literature, history—and how they intertwine and influence the choices of an artist arise over and again.
