Toward a new mythos
Aneesa Shami
February 9 – April 4, 2020
Inquire about purchasing artwork by emailing info@thestudio203.org.
“Angels are souls blown into lights,
jinn are souls blown into winds,
and human beings are souls blown into shapes.”
Exhibition views of Toward a new mythos
Photos by Cecily Brown
About Aneesa Shami
Aneesa Shami is an artist researcher based in Los Angeles using recycled materials to create fiber art. Her work references the sublime and world mythologies to evoke a sense of the collective unconscious in her imagery. Shami holds Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in both Fiber and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute. She was the Textile Arts | Los Angeles AIR at Helms Design Center in 2018, and was a Fellow for the Mildred’s Lane Attention Labs: Order of the Third Bird in 2015. Her work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums, including the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA and the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art in San Luis Obispo, CA. Aneesa Shami is also the co-owner and director of Studio 203, an artist-run space in Los Angeles that collaborates with artists to create exhibitions and host workshops and performances.
Repurposing material is an important part of my practice, and textiles speak to me the most. Currently, I am working with fabric samples from a local design firm in Los Angeles, and use traditional applique techniques to mimic the informal look of collage. Referencing my first trip to Lebanon, I depict specific historical sites and blend them with imagery from Islamic folklore. These abstracted landscapes have formed a new, personal mythos, combining my memories with illustrations of angels, jinn, and the imaginal realm they live in.
Each piece speaks to a larger understanding that we are all fundamentally human. I try to utilize universal themes that the viewer can connect with by referencing the sublime, drawing on world mythologies and sharing an otherworldly sense of the human conscious and subconscious. I want to connect with others on a visceral level through the use of formal elements: movement, color, and form. I hope my work evokes a larger understanding that we are all human and we are all connected.