Vian Sora (born 1976 in
Baghdad, Iraq
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the list of largest cities in the Arab world, second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the ...
) is an
Iraqi American
Iraqi Americans (Arabic: أمريكيون عراقيون) (Kurdish عێراقییە ئەمریکییەکان, Îraqiyên Amerîkî) are American citizens who originate from Iraq. As of 2015, the number of Iraqi Americans is around 145,279, accordi ...
artist.
Biography
Sora was born in Baghdad in 1976.
She left Iraq in 2006, during the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, eventually settling in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
with her husband in 2009.
Sora works primarily with
oils, but utilizes mixed media and engraving techniques to create three-dimensional textures on canvas. The work is primarily
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
and figurative, with contemporary abstract images used to convey moods and scenes from antiquity. Her works demonstrate the influences of the East and West on her painting and upon her existence. Women of all cultures, of ancient and modern times, are a central theme in her work.
She represents women as silent spiritualists and shows their journey as a constant struggle for survival.
Sora has held exhibitions throughout Iraq,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, parts of Europe and the Middle East. She received her degree from al-Mansour University in Baghdad and Bellarmine University, United States.
She has published a
Turkish language
Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...
book concerning her works which is titled ''Neher, Seher, Misafirat'' (''River, Voyage, Time''). The title was also the name of her art exhibition that was held in
Topkapi Palace,
Istanbul, Turkey. Her most recent solo show toke place at the US Chamber of commerce in support of
WEAVE-Washington Empowered Against Violence, September 2011
See also
*
Iraqi art
*
Islamic art
*
List of Iraqi artists
*
List of Iraqi women artists
References
External links
*
IrasiArt: Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sora, Vian
1976 births
Living people
21st-century American women artists
Artist authors
Artists from Baghdad
American women painters
Iraqi contemporary artists
Iraqi women artists
Iraqi emigrants to the United States