Anila Quayyum Agha: The Greys In Between
Location: Center of the roundabout at Tank Farm Road and Orcutt Road, across from Islay Park (click here for map pin)
Exhibition dates: Oct 2022–ongoing
In exploring the intersections of race, class, culture and religion, The Greys in Between celebrates minority and immigrant populations’ contributions to our society and signifies San Luis Obispo as a community committed to being a welcoming place for all. Drawing from symbols found in South Asian art and architecture, Pakistani-born artist Anila Quayyum Agha uses her large lit sculptures to show the relationships that exist between light and darkness, fact and fiction, community and solitude. The Greys in Between honors diversity and inclusion while inviting viewers to reflect on these different states of being.
This permanent installation at the Tank Farm and Orcutt roundabout is commissioned by the City of San Luis Obispo’s Public Art Program in partnership with San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.
Anila Quayyum Agha (b. Lahore, Pakistan) received her BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore and an MFA from the University of North Texas. For the 2019 Venice Biennale Agha was included in a collateral event, She Persists, with 22 contemporary feminist artists. In 2017, she was awarded the Glenn W. Irwin, Jr., M.D. Research Scholar Award by Indiana University. Recently, Agha received an Endowed Chair position titled Professor – Morris Eminent Scholar in Art at Augusta University in Georgia, as well as the prestigious Smithsonian Fellowship in the arts for 2021 and will be working with both SAAM and AAA in Washington DC in May 2021. Her work has been collected by both institutions and private collectors; nationally and internationally.