Vian Sora's First US Museum Survey 'Outerworlds' to Open at SBMA

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) will debut 'Vian Sora: Outerworlds' on June 22, 2025, the first solo museum exhibition in the United States for the Baghdad-born abstract painter (b. 1976). Co-organized with Asia Society Texas in Houston and the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, the mid-career survey assembles approximately 20 major works from 2016 to 2023. Sora's large-scale canvases employ spray paint, acrylics, oils, and pigments applied with brushes, sponges, spray bottles, or her breath, building up to fifty layers. Her practice channels the Iran-Iraq War, Gulf War, 2003 invasion, and subsequent displacement—she sought refugee status in the UAE before settling in Louisville. The title references two 2021 works completed during a Berlin residency amid pandemic lockdowns. Paintings like 'Abzu' (2023) and 'Hanging Gardens' (2022) evoke Sumerian mythology and Mesopotamian geography. Curators James Glisson (SBMA), Owen Duffy (Asia Society Texas), and Tyler Blackwell (Speed Art Museum) contributed to the exhibition, which will travel to Louisville and Houston after its Santa Barbara run.