The University of New Mexico Art Museum will host a conversation with artist Anila Quayyum Agha and UNMAM curator of prints and photographs Mary Statzer Thursday in person and virtually. Agha, whose exhibition Mysterious Inner Worlds is on display now in the museum, will discuss her life and work, including the pieces in the exhibition.

The conversation is Thursday, March 24, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the UNM Physics, Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Science (PAIS) Building, Room 1100. The PAIS building is located at 210 Yale Boulevard NE, directly west of the UNM Art Museum and Center for the Arts. Paid parking is available in the Cornell Parking Structure.

The exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on March 24, the day of the event. In-person registration is limited to 180 attendees. Registration is required to guarantee admission to this event. Register here to attend via Zoom.

Agha's work ranges in scale from monumental installations to intricate embroidered drawings. Her work references Islamic art and architecture, and speaks to contemporary uses of light and shadow as well as textile arts. Mysterious Inner Worlds is the first solo exhibition by the artist in New Mexico, featuring four sculptures activated by light including Intersections (2014) and the debut of Steel Garden (Red) (2021).

Anila Quayyum Agha was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. She received her BFA from the National College of Arts in Lahore and her MFA from the University of North Texas. She is associate professor of Drawing at the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University in Indianapolis and is currently the Morris Eminent Scholar in Art at Augusta University in Georgia. In 2021, she received the Smithsonian Fellowship in the Arts and will spend the summer of 2022 in Washington D.C., conducting research for future projects. Agha’s work is in many private and public collections, including the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.

This event is supported by the Allene H. and Walter P. Kleweno Lecture Series Fund.