Farah Mohammad

“Interference” | February 10 - March 28, 2022

Friday 11-6pm & Saturday 12-6pm.

By appointment Monday through Thursday. Please email nyama@nyamafineart.com to set a time.

Nyama Fine Art is pleased to present Interference, the debut solo exhibition of Farah Mohammad. The Pakistani-born New-York based artist shares a series of recent mixed-media installations and monotype prints that express migrational intersectionality and resilience. Interference examines personal and political forces of change and the interconnectedness of urban living.

Mohammad draws inspiration from the physical environments of her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan and of her current home in New York City.  She explores physical  boundaries as an allegory to freedom as well as a commentary on urbanization and gentrification. Mohammad poses the questions, “What happens when you try to control forces that interrupt our environment? How do you confront your contribution to the interruption?”.

During visits to Pakistan, Mohammad noted the encroaching urbanizing changes in her neighborhood. Contrastingly, she also acknowledges her presence in New York City as a contributing factor to the quickly gentrifying neighborhood of Harlem. Mohammad’s background as a social worker who worked closely with families in underserved communities in Brooklyn further her observation of the impact of physical spaces on our sense of freedom and collective memory. 

By creating woodcut and monotype prints, the artist breaks down these memory sites into elemental parts. This process offers the opportunity to “collage memories” and take an emotional inventory of spaces that are imbued with nostalgia and loss. Installations such as Unfettering and Chaos and Longing stitch together synergetic scenes from New York City and Karachi. The piercings and metal that affix the work allude to ephemerality of what it means to be “home”. 

The body of work functions as a visual time capsule of scenes that greatly impacted the artist during the last few years. It also serves as reconciliation for a multi-hyphenated individual negotiating belonging between nations and how to be in proactive service to the place she now calls home.