Details
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. Learn more about the program on our Public Art page or click here for an interactive map to find public art near you.
Learn more about artist Anila Agha in this New York Times article.
About the Artist
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. Recent solo shows include the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, National Sculpture Museum in Valladolid, Spain, The Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL. Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. For the 2019 Venice Biennale Agha was included in a collateral event, She Persists, with 22 contemporary feminist artists. Agha has received the Efroymson Art Fellowship, Cincinnati Art Museum’s 2017 Schiele Prize, and DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award. Agha’s 2014 ArtPrize entry, titled “Intersections”, earned the Public Vote Grand Prize and split the Juried Grand Prize in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 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.
Installation Highlights
Learn more about The Greys In Between in our media mentions. #SLOMAinthenews
3-Legged lantern sculpture is centerpiece for new SLO roundabout. The Tribune, David Middlecamp. Dec 1, 2022.