FEBRUARY 21, 2024

“The newest exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts, whose mission is to amplify contemporary art from South to West Asia, is an immersive, psychedelic installation titled Alhamdu | Muslim Futurism. Conscious of the nuanced, weighted experience of being a Muslim in the U.S. diaspora today the exhibit invites the viewer to call and answer, again and again, what they envision as Islamic Futurism … This joint effort is dynamic and considers the current and historic issues of Islamophobia, anti-blackness, xenophobia, imperialism, and racism affecting both the Zeitgeist and material conditions of displaced Muslims. The video installation – titled “The Mirage,” meaning “praise be to God” – is credited to Shimul Chowdhury, Abbas Rattani, and Yusuf Siddiq from MIPSTERZ.”

— VRIDDHI VINAY, ARTBLOG

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FEBRUARY 8, 2024

“An immersive art installation, “The Mirage,” asks the viewer: What would a world rooted in the egalitarian values of Islam look like? And what do those experiencing the exhibit want to contribute to make that world a reality? … Inspired by schools of thought such as Afrofuturism and the teachings of people like Malcolm X, the installation transports viewers to a world where no one experiences oppression and asks them to reflect on their ability to create that world … While “The Mirage” is rooted in the theory of Muslim Futurism, the space it creates is meant to serve all communities. It’s already drawn in non-Muslims who are curious about the faith and about Muslim communities.”

— MASSARAH MIKATI, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

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DECEMBER 13, 2023

The name “Twelve Gates,” was inspired by the gates that surround ancient cities around the world. Think Marrakesh in Morocco, Lahore in Pakistan, or Delhi in India. “Gates separate cities, but also, gates open to allow for the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and for starting dialogue,” said Khan, who grew up in Pakistan. Twelve Gates Arts received a $100,000 grant that will be disbursed over two years. Until now, the gallery has had only one full-time staffer, Khan, and two part-time staffers. Khan said the grant will help pay for an additional full-time staffer. It will also be used to spread the word about its mission.

“We want to support contemporary artists from the South Asian diaspora,” she said. “We especially want to help emerging artists. Philadelphia is a hub of artists and art schools. We want students to come and learn about what’s happening in the diasporic world.”

— VALERIE RUSS, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

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SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Murtaza Vali, a Brooklyn- and Sharjah-based curator and critic, has organized what he calls a “peripatetic curatorial platform” that explores the cascading effects of this historical cataclysm. Proposals for a Memorial to Partition opened in 2022 at Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre and now appears, in a new and smaller iteration, at Twelve Gates Arts. Thirteen makers from around the globe offer up sculptures, small-scale installations, drawings, paintings, videos, sound recordings, and artist books in the storefront space. Though the title refers to the idea of a memorial, the show eschews almost entirely the oft-related notion of the monumental. Instead, modestly sized works, some as small as a postcard, present opportunities to connect the unhealed wounds of the past to the rawness of the present.

— ARUNA D’SOUZA, 4 COLUMNS

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June 26, 2023

Remnants of Another starts and ends cyclically, in a multi-media culmination of Indo-Caribbean ways of life, powered by the strength and ties of women and the cultural elements that bind them. On an afternoon at Twelve Gates Gallery, the light from the window illuminates the painted figures or those depicted through the digital image to evoke a neverending story of cultural preservation. As the entire exhibit tells a story, part archival lesson and part glimpse into many perspectives, it unmistakably shows the relationship of how the ties between women and gender non-conforming people were crucial to cultural survival. From the portraits of Indentured Laboring women to the short films showing the relationships between women to the figures D’Ornellas depicted together, the exhibit highlights the strength of women between each other, no matter when or where their space and place in history.

— VRIDDHI VINAY, ARTBLOG

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MAY 18, 2023

As the saying goes, “the winner tells the tale,” and photography is an effective tool of oppression and surveillance against the “other.” Viswanathan, assistant professor of modern and contemporary art history at the University of Hartford, says photographs can be used to “silence a narrative, to dehumanize conceptions of faraway conflict.” Colonial populations living under imperial rule are photographed against their will and portrayed as bizarre (at best) by those wielding power, and the “enemy” in conflicts is demonized; these tactics numb us to their humanity. Another way to bury a story is simply not to tell it, leaving people and cultures out of the frame.

— EMILY SCHILLING, BROAD STREET REVIEW

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APRIL 13, 2023

“Art is how we learn to tell stories about our truths and how we negotiate a place in the world for future generations,” Sikander said. “It is also about problem solving. It is pulling yourself out of a dark space into light. It’s fluid.” Creativity and storytelling are a beautiful gift, she said, and all of us have it.

— KRISTINA GARCIA, PENN TODAY

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