Afruz Amighi: Abodes of Solace
Afruz Amighi
Afruz Amighi, 99 Names, 2007, beads, chain, and plexiglas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
December 12, 2024
Sculptor and installation artist Afruz Amighi discusses her ongoing experimentation with light as a means of creating spaces of intimacy and solace. Drawing upon traditions within religious architecture, Amighi explores the primacy of hybridity in her structures while using light to activate our sense of the sacred.
Amighi’s large-scale sculptural work, 99 Names, is on view in the Hossein Afshar Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds. Referencing the Living with the Gods exhibition themes of divine light and the Word, this immersive, diaphanous sculpture recalls the practices and shared religious traditions of Islamic lands.
Plan Your Visit
- Free with Museum admission. The event takes place in the American General Conference Room in the Beck Building. The exhibition is located on the upper level of the Law Building.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Artist
Afruz Amighi was born in Tehran, Iran. She studied Political Science at Barnard College and completed her M.F.A. at New York University. Amighi’s artistic practice spans large-scale installation, sculpture, drawing, performance, and poetry. Her objects and installations play with light and shadow to explore the poetics of space and activate the sensation of the sacred that dwells within the ordinary. Inspired by the cathedral, the mosque, the tomb, and the shrine, the artist has likened her structures to hybrid abodes. Amighi's work has been exhibited in museums and sculpture parks throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Amighi is the inaugural recipient of the Jameel Prize, is a NYFA fellow in sculpture, and her work was commissioned for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. She is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and The Morgan Museum & Library, among others. She lives and works in New York.
“Living with the Gods: Art, Beliefs, and Peoples” is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lead foundation underwriting is provided by:
Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation
Additional generous support is provided by:
Franci Neely
The Sushila and Dr. Durga D. Agrawal Family
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
Joan and Stanford Alexander Family
Nancy Pollok Guinee
Joy and Benjamin Warren
Levant Foundation
Bettie Cartwright
Anne Lamkin Kinder
Mr. and Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis
Milton D. Rosenau, Jr. and Dr. Ellen R. Gritz
The Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc.
All Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from H-E-B; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Sempra Foundation; the Brown Foundation, Inc.; the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; the John M. O'Quinn Foundation; the Joe Barnhart Foundation; the Cockrell Family Fund; the CFP Foundation; Macey and Harry Reasoner; the Texas Commission on the Arts; and the Junior League of Houston, Inc.
Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Medha and Shashank Karve; Virginia and Ira Jackson; Jesse H. Jones II; the CFP Foundation; the Favrot Fund; gifts in memory of John Wynne; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.