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Five Rupees
Wintergreen oil monotype on paper
22 x 30 inches
2013

“I was in a mode of gathering imagery for my archive which was later lost, someone stole my laptop out of my car. I was in the process of somehow displaying what I was collecting. The 1:1 relationship to the finished piece was really important for me; a sort of embalming for me. Of random ephemera and images online. I was using a lot of Disney and Aladdin references, especially the landscapes, in the studio, which I thought would be the backdrops for the paintings. The ‘realms’ within which I was having conversations. Like the stadiums that I wanted to set up to then paint into and on top of. Edward Said was extremely influential on these initial pieces. Film stills and landscapes were going in and out of the practice as I was learning new methods of making, i.e. printmaking at the time.

Years later and even now, these elements have either stayed in the work or are coming back. The circle formats seen here were used in a 2019 show titled ‘Portals.’ This idea of transporting yourself elsewhere and in new works that means taking you to non-existent/fake landscapes. Using full-on landscapes and skyscapes that are collaged together to make fake places. Does landscape speak better to our identity and fears and anxieties as a people, rather than much more specific imagery I was looking at before? It’s something big I've been thinking about in the studio.”
 
Amna Asghar lives and works in Detroit, Michigan. She received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2014. Her work was featured in the Armory Show’s FOCUS section with Harmony Murphy Gallery, curated by Jarrett Gregory. She has shown with Oolite Arts in Miami, Florida, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah; Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York; PLATFORM, in collaboration David Zwirner Gallery, New York; Super Dutchess, New York; Hotel Art Pavilion, Brooklyn; Hawkeye Crates, Brooklyn; NARS Foundation, Brooklyn; Knockdown Center, Queens, New York; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina; Para Site, Hong Kong; and VisArts, Rockville, Maryland. Asghar is currently represented by Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York and Belle Isle Viewing Room, Detroit. Most recently, she completed a print project with Commissioner as one of Detroit's inaugural artists.



Founded in 2020, Three Fold is an independent quarterly based in Detroit that presents exploratory points of view on arts, culture, and society in addition to original works in various media, including visual art, literature, film and the performing arts. We solicit and commission contributions from artists, writers, and activists around the world. Three Fold is a publication of Trinosophes Projects, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in the historic Eastern Market neighborhood in downtown Detroit. Click here to check out Three Fold’s events page and view a schedule of the publication’s on-site activities.

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