Postcolonial Women's Voices in Abstraction
Artists from Africa, South Asia, diaspora and Indigenous communities use color, texture, and form to celebrate their histories and reimagine culture, place, and belonging.
Omaggio a Venezia (1975) by Bertina LopesShah Garg Foundation
Historical presence
Bertina Lopes is a Mozambique-born artist, weaving paint into energetic color and form.
Layers of renewal
The sculptural depth of the surface highlights rich pigments and forms — symbolizing renewal, transformation, and her post-colonial context.
Fiza Khatri's liminal space
Karachi-born, Fiza Khatri merges South Asian motifs with contemporary abstract techniques to reflect a liminal experience of migration.
Morning Window (2024) by Fiza KhatriShah Garg Foundation
Intimate imprints
The surface texture shows traces of her hand and movement, adding a intimate, lived feeling to her exploration of home.
Everything's a contradiction, a structure that can’t support itself (2022) by Radhika KhimjiShah Garg Foundation
Radhika's critique
Oman-born, Radhika plays with photo transfer and oil to critique structures of power and representation.
Structural fragments
A close-up view highlights her careful juxtaposition of materials — a rich texture reflecting a hybrid view of culture and history.
Ecotone I (2023) by Vian SoraShah Garg Foundation
Vian Sora's autobiographical canvases
Sora’s autobiographical paintings channel the chaos and resilience of Iraq’s conflicts, blending spray paint and acrylics into dynamic, emotional landscapes.
Cycles of destruction and renewal
Within abstract swirls, Sora reveals hidden figures and fertile landscapes, reflecting cycles of destruction and renewal rooted in her personal and cultural history.
darth (2023) by Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos)Shah Garg Foundation
Reviving ancestral stories
Sara Siestreem’s work honors Hanis Coos traditions, weaving cultural memory and resilience into a form that challenges colonial erasure.
Honoring Hanis Coos
Her work layers symbols and stories, fiercely asserting Native presence and rewriting history through the lens of Native Hanis Coos' women's resilience and sovereignty.
Pink Dress (2022/2023) by UmanShah Garg Foundation
Memories of home
Uman’s rich color fields reflect her Somali-born diaspora experience, blending memories of home with a vibrant, contemporary abstract vocabulary.
Layers of meaning
A close-up view reveals thick, gestural brushstrokes and a rich texture that embodies both movement and feeling — a physical manifestation of her diaspora experience.
Curation and Text by Sarah Daoui. Edited by Lauren O'Neill-Butler.
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.