DUBAI.- The Third Line opened House of Pearls, the gallery's first solo exhibition with US-based, Iraqi American artist Vian Sora. The exhibition presents new paintings and works on paper that explore pearls as a metaphor for achieving stability and the needed structural integrity for life itself to regenerate.
In this new body of work, Sora – an Iraqi-born artist who sought refuge in Dubai following the US invasion of Iraq – explores the fundamental elements of caustic cycles: the solid and fluid violent states intrinsic to nature from which pearls grow, and examines connectivity as an essential element to humanity's collective consciousness. Drawing on her experiences as a war survivor and immigrant, Sora reflects on the uncertainty and shifting boundaries of existence, capturing the physical, mental, and emotional toll experienced across nations, cultures, and time. Her paintings reveal the complex nature of identity and seek cohesion like the iridescent layers of a natural pearl.
Sora's technique begins with canvases laid flat, mirroring the landscapes she has traversed, before transitioning them upright to assert control. Starting with a minimal palette of three colours, she gradually introduces up to 20 hues through meticulous layering, with each piece featuring up to 50 layers of colours and texture. This process balances spontaneity with precision, capturing the tension between disorder and control in her work.
Through this layered process, Sora depicts imagined landscapes and ocean scenes marked with distorted Arabic calligraphy and vivid colours, evoking a pearl-like luminosity. Her work captures the vulnerability and courage of displaced individuals, portraying personal and collective traumas and ongoing struggles. By using multiple layers of paint, Sora captures explosive intensity and deep psychological states. Her abstract figures emerge from chaos, revealing inherent beauty.
Vian Sora (b. 1976, Baghdad, Iraq) has lived and worked in Louisville, Kentucky since 2009. She received a BS from Al Mansour University in Baghdad, Iraq in 2000 and studied printmaking at the Istanbul Museum of Graphic Art (IMOGA) in Istanbul, Turkey in 2007. Sora’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally including the Baltimore Art Museum, Baltimore, MD; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati, OH; Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, UAE; IMOGA, Istanbul, Turkey; as well as the KMAC Triennial, Louisville, KY; Grinnell College Museum of Art; among others. Commencing in 2025, Sora will have a travelling solo museum show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Speed Art Museum.
Sora's work is included in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Grinnell College Museum of Art, IA; Ministry of Culture Contemporary Collection, Baghdad, Iraq; the Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Fidelity Art Collection, Boston, MA; and the Shah Garg Foundation Collection, New York, NY; as well as numerous private collections.
