Vian Sora: Outerworlds

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is pleased to announce Vian Sora: Outerworlds, a multi-venue mid-career survey of internationally renowned abstract painter Vian Sora (b. 1976, Baghdad). This exhibition will assemble approximately 20 of Sora’s major works, charting her growth as an artist over a period of seven years (2016–2023).

Born in Iraq, she survived two American wars and eventually made her way to the United States, then worked to bring her family to safety. She has discussed  these paintings as an analog to the experience of history and her life. Vian Sora’s abstractions are without a doubt lacking obvious references to subject matter and explode with riotous, positive colors that convey energy and life.

This exhibition is co-organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Asia Society Texas, and Speed Art Museum and is made possible in Santa Barbara through the generosity of SBMA Women's Board, Joan Davidson, Jeanne Dentzel, Great Meadows Foundation, Rachel Kaganoff, Isabel and Paul Wendt, and an anonymous donor.