For their first solo exhibition in the Midwest, Texas-born artist Baseera Khan will present new and recent collages, sculptures, and video that raise questions about the commoditization of identity, privacy, and intimacy. The exhibition includes a major new commission: a classical Islamic arch constructed using custom pictographic paneling that explore the experience of daily life as a femme Muslim in the United States—including Islamophobia, assimilation, and the illusion of fixedness. By juxtaposing kitsch, pop-culture iconography with architectures associated with power, value and authority, Khan critiques power structures and knowledge systems that systemically exclude, misrepresent, and commoditize marginalized populations.
Image: Baseera Khan. Installation view, Baseera Khan: Weight on History. Photo: Wes Battoclette, 2022. Image courtesy of the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH.