Baseera Khan “I Am an Archive”
Brooklyn Museum
October 1, 2021–July 10, 2022
The Brooklyn Museum has announced the opening of UOVO Prize winner and emerging Brooklyn-based artist Baseera Khan’s new exhibition “I Am an Archive,” on October 1st, 2021. This marks the first solo museum exhibit for Baseera Khan, whose multi-faceted work utilizes a wide variety of mediums, with a particular focus on performance art and sculpture. This exhibit will debut six new artworks from the artist, alongside significant pieces from their past work. The exhibition has been described by the Museum as employing a focus on Khan’s body “as a site of accumulations of experiences, histories, and traumas.”
While Khan is primarily known as a New York artist, they originate from Texas, born to Muslim immigrants from India. This has become an integral facet of Khan’s work, which often utilizes their own identity as a femme native-born Muslim American to inform and explore subjects ranging from xenophobia, assimilation, cultural exploitation, and trauma, challenging the viewer’s worldview and assumptions about these themes. Khan’s unique perspective has been on show in galleries across the United States and the world, with previous exhibits at Participant Inc. Gallery in New York, the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, and the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism in Munich, Germany.
The Brooklyn Museum’s presentation of Baseera Khan “I Am an Archive” comes after the artist was awarded the 2020 UOVO Prize, which highlights Brooklyn-based artists and elevates them with a solo exhibit and a $25,000 grant. Previous winner John Edmonds enjoyed a series of successes after his Brooklyn Museum show, including a selection of pieces at the Whitney Museum. Khan’s exhibit will employ multi-layered sculpture, installation, collage, drawings, photographs, and video to address a number of themes, and offer their own unique solutions to the problems faced today. The exhibit will be on show at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor, and is curated by Carmen Hermo.
