Vian Sora: Outerworlds
Vian Sora, Dilmun, 2022. Oil and mixed media on canvas. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the General Art Acquisition Fund © Vian Sora, 2022.
Vian Sora, Echo and Narcissus, 2018. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Courtesy of Speed Art Museum.
Vian Sora, Outerworld I, 2021. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Collection of Brook and Pam Smith.
Vian Sora, Hanging Garden, 2022. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Courtesy of Vian Sora
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). This is her first solo museum show in the United States.
Growing up in Baghdad, Sora (b. 1976) lived through wars and conflict in Iraq and eventually immigrated to the United States, then brought her family to safety. She considers these paintings analogs to the experience of her life and Iraqi history. In them, gnashing forces convey experiences too big, too charged to be expressed directly. Their churning, relentless energy emulates the cycles of human history with its continuous cycles of peace, war, prosperity, and disaster, but also nature’s endless cycles of birth, growth, decline, death, and rebirth.
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.
Vian Sora: Outerworlds
On View June 22 – September 7, 2025
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) is pleased to announce Vian Sora: Outerworlds, a multi-venue mid-career survey of internationally renowned abstract painter Vian Sora (b. 1976, Baghdad). Organized jointly by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Asia Society Texas, Houston; and Speed Art Museum, Louisville, 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).
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Vian Sora, Dilmun, 2022. Oil and mixed media on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by the General Art Acquisition Fund
Vian Sora, Echo and Narcissus, 2018. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Courtesy of Speed Art Museum
Vian Sora, Cherry Pickers, 2022. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Museum purchase with funds from Henry Heuser
Vian Sora, Floodgates, 2021. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Courtesy of Kentucky Performing Arts Foundation
Vian Sora, Hanging Garden, 2022. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Courtesy of Vian Sora Foundation
Vian Sora, Outerworld I, 2021. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas Collection of Brook and Pam Smith
Vian Sora, Outerworld II, 2021. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Collection of Brook and Pam Smith
Vian Sora, Sanctum, 2023. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Collection of Woo Speed McNaughton
Vian Sora, Morphing, 2023. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas. Private Collection.
Vian Sora, Citizen, 2019. Mixed media finished w/ oil on canvas Collection of Michael and Stephanie Morris
Vian Sora, Forest Remains, 2022. Mixed media and ink on Arches paper. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by The Basil Alkazzi Acquisition Fund
"Good Kurds, Bad Kurds: No Friends But the Mountains" Film Screening
Sunday, July 13, 2025 | 2:30 – 4:30 pm
Front Terrace, SBMA
“Searing…delves deeply into the history and politics of Kurdistan.” –The New York Times
A war of national liberation or a war against terrorism? Film-maker and acclaimed freelance journalist Kevin McKiernan poses this question at the outset of this stirring, provocative award-winning film shot in part by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. It's all in how you define "good" and "bad”. Good Kurds, Bad Kurds (2001; 80 minutes) brings a sharp clarity to a complex history, while providing disturbing insight into immigration practices and U.S. foreign policy.
This screening is inspired by the current exhibition Vian Sora: Outerworlds and the Iraqi born artist’s recollection of watching this film at home with her brother as a young girl. Introduced by and Q and A following the screening with Director Kevin McKiernan.
- Galleries:McCormick,
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