Pakistani artist, Anila Quayyum Agha, uses the play of light and shadow in creating the piece 'intersections' for the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan. With a single light bulb and a 6.5' laser-cut wood cube, the piece casts shadows over the interior of the 32' x 34' space. Patterns cut into the wood are similar to ones found in Islamic sacred spaces. The illumination from the inside casts these large geometries on the surrounding walls, ceiling, and floor. Visitors to the space are immersed in the dynamic light and shadow, turning an otherwise blank white space into a web of pattern. The Islamic geometries are inspired by the artist's own personal experiences growing up in Pakistan. Quayyum Agha explains, "The wooden frieze emulates a pattern from the Alhambra, which was poised at the intersection of history, culture and art and was a place where Islamic and Western discourses met and co-existed in harmony and served as a testament to symbiosis of difference. For me the familiarity of the space visited at the Alhambra Palace and the memories of another time and place from my past, coalesced in creating this project".
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