The Art Gallery of New South Wales will present the first major solo exhibition of Melbourne-based artist Nusra Latif Qureshi later this year. Tracing the artist’s 30-year career, the exhibition will showcase her early paintings in Lahore, in which she began to reimagine traditional forms, to their zenith beyond the page and into 3D sculpture with a newly commissioned installation.
At once beautiful and challenging, Qureshi’s works bear witness to the indelible presence of history and the persistence of trauma, dislocation and loss, coupled with the uncertainties of love. In her meticulously painted vignettes, lonely female figures frequently float among fields of colour, paradoxically inscribed on the page and yet yearning for freedom. Curated by Matt Cox (Curator of Asian Art, AGNSW), the exhibition will include the subtle yet powerful suite of paintings for which Qureshi received the Bulgari Art Prize in 2019, which speak to her experience of moving to Australia in 2001 and offer a window into the rich and complex history of Pakistan while bearing witness to the conflicts and consequences of colonialism.
Featuring local and international contributors, the exhibition is accompanied by a generous publication which will offer a comprehensive exploration of Qureshi’s process, inspirations and significance in contemporary Australian art.