curated by Jaishri Abhichandani

One arrives at a state of beholdenness when one sees deeply into everything that is given.

Lived Experiences brings together three artists - Bolo (artist duo Saks Afridi and Qinza Najm), Julius John Alam, and Vered Snear whose recent works revolve around performances of lived experiences of 'other'. The works each bring attention to the resultant 'borders' between entities - or even between states of being, and all seem to be motivated at least in part by social activism, while leaving any political or moral statements less clear. Some of the pieces have been presented in different places within different formats, but in every case the works are process-based with important elements of the affect coming from that process.

"God Particle is a collection of my most recent work, which includes drawings, paintings and a site-specific installation. I have always been interested in the idea of belief, and specifically in the appropriation of religious symbols and icons of faith to discuss non- religious concepts, such as statehood."

Another Day Lost is a series of installations by Syrian-born, UK-based artist Issam Kourbaj, inspired by aerial images of refugee camps and is made out of waste materials. Each installation is constructed from discarded books, medicine packaging and burnt matches. As one of the visitors in London commented: "Waste materials portraying wasted lives." The overall appearance is that of a refugee 'camp', made out of thousands of tiny paper and cardboard 'tents', some of which are marked with Kourbaj's distinctive black lines (based on Arabic calligraphy and traditional mourning ribbons), and encircled with a 'fence' of burnt matches.

A selection of original works from Be Home Here, a 140-page book of images by Mala Iqbal will be on view at Twelve Gates Arts. This is the first time the works will be shown since their publication, and it is the first time Iqbal's work will be exhibited at 12G.

How is the photograph a place of ruin, and a form of fabrication? In Ruins and Fabrications, the artists Annu Palakunnathu Matthew and Gauri Gill reframe the uses of the documentary and archival photograph. In its archaeological sense, a ruin is a site of excavation, a place relegated to a different time. Yet these same ruins shape the landscape of our present: we build over, layer upon, and live amongst ruins. Like the documentary photograph, a ruin is a material object that appears to capture the passage of time, only to tell us more about our present moment.

Ruby Chishti returns to Twelve Gates Arts with her first solo show at the gallery. Chishti is a sculptor who was born and lived much of her life in Pakistan before moving to the United States. She earned a BFA at the National College of Arts in Lahore; she also trained in sculpture and bronze casting at El Dorado Center in Placerville and at Art Foundry Gallery in Sacramento, respectively.

Antonio Puri is set for his second solo exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts, this coming month. The show will contain recent mixed-media works, including those from his Chandigarh series about his hometown in north India. Through his use of monotonous color, Puri evokes the concrete building materials prevalent in the town, which was planned and designed by Le Corbusier - the effect successfully communicates the type of subconcious suggestion of identity that Puri has stated he investigates and would like to challenge along with his viewers through his work.

Twelve Gates Arts invites you to explore the confluence of art and poetry in the work of Israeli-born New York-based artist Izhar Patkin. Patkin's 2014 retrospective at MASS MoCA featured his collaboration with the legendary Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali (1949 - 2001), with whom Patkin collaborated during the two years before Ali's death. Inspired by Ali's words, Patkin executed a cycle of spectacular mural-size paintings on gossamer tulle, entitled "Veiled Threats" (1999 - 2010).

Twelve Gates Arts is excited to present the latest group exhibition, ZABARDUST (Urdu for “fabulous, awesome”), from curator Jasmine Wahi. The title is a homage to fabulous and unconventional women with an undercurrent of female empowerment and self-ownership in the conceptual and real space of life. The exhibition is a somewhat abstract or ethereal follow-up on Wahi’s 2013 show The Least Orthodox Goddess, which exhibited at Gallery 151 in New York City and was a narrative about how a consciously empowered feminine energy would be and look. In that light, ZABARDUST can be seen as a sort of celebration of the experience of that kind of energy.

Presence' Tense, after six week presentation was dismantled in a pseudo-performative public de-installation piece on January 17th. The public was welcomed to participate and observe the reduction of the art pieces from sculptures to commodity portions. 

Twelve Gates Arts is proud to host the first ever extensive survey of contemporary Bangladeshi art, curated by Aicon Gallery in New York. The exhibition features nine artists collectively exploring the complex and interlocking cultural, political, economic and environmental issues currently facing the often paradoxical and rapidly changing society and state of Bangladesh in the new millennium. 

Twelve Gates Arts presents a collaboration between Lahore-based multimedia artist, Mohsin Shafi and Pakistani-American artist, Sa'dia Rehman, which will open with a reception First Friday, May 2nd from 6:30 - 8:30pm. The works explore taboo subjects, visually manifesting sometimes ambiguous inner worlds as a way to challenge the status quo. Both artists draw inspiration from their own lives as a means to inspire viewers out of any isolation in theirs. 

Twelve Gates Arts presents a solo exhibition by Pakistani-American artist, Hiba Schahbaz. The current series titled "American Beauty" - of mostly miniatures featuring a solitary, nude female figure - is concerned with self-identification, although Schahbaz does not consider them to be self-portraits in a strict or autobiographical sense. She is more concerned during her process with theoretical analysis and seems to employ the female figure as more of a symbol of her own awareness that inevitably we can only approach objectivity through our individual and specific experience.

Twelve Gates Arts is pleased to present H1B, the latest exhibition from curator Masum Momaya of the Smithsonian Indian American Heritage Project. The result of a national call for art submissions, H1B includes pieces in various media including film. The works explore the trajectories, technicalities and tumultuous emotions of immigrants living and working here in H1B as well as H4 visas.

This exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts marks the centennial of Indian (hence South Asian) cinema. Even in its silent beginnings, starting with Raja Harishchandra in 1913, drama and literature were the dominant subjects and bases of film. Fine arts such as painting and sculpture may have niche audiences who consider their own aesthetics to be more refined than that of the wider public, but cinema is one art form that enjoys broad popularity. At least, we can state with confidence that drama, literature and cinema all share a spirit of entertainment, where the audience undergoes an experience driven by narrative storyline.

Philadelphia, PA – Twelve Gates Arts returns with a group exhibition of works by Nepali artists. “Namaste Nepal” will run from September 6 - October 12, 2013 with an opening reception First Friday, September 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The exhibition was curated by artist and educator, Kathryn Hagy. Six artists are featured in the show: Asha Dangol, Hitman Gurung, Mekh Limbu, Supriya Manandhar, Ashmina Ranjit, and Binod Shrestha. All grew up or came of age during the political turmoil existing in Nepal since the 1990s.

Twelve Gates Arts invites you to explore the breadth of contemporary text-based art being produced through the work of ten South Asian artists. The artists embody the written word into their work, such that it is not just the main ingredient, but also the medium. The treatment of text as image goes back to early Islamic history, as well as being a theme in many other calligraphic traditions, not least that of East Asia.

A world-renowned print maker, sculptor and teacher, Krishna Reddy spent his early years in India.

Judy Blum Reddy is an alumni of Cooper Union and has been exhibiting art for 40 years.

Twelve Gates Arts proudly presents this collaborative exhibition, which comes to us from Australian artist Damon Kowarsky and Pakistani artist Atif Khan. Khan invited Kowarsky to collaborate in 2011 and the result are 20 “hybrid” prints created from their visual correspondence across continents. Each print stems from the layered drawings bearing both artists’ touch ~ which combine gracefully in imagery that is at times ironic and uncanny.

The upcoming exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts comes from independent curator, Jasmine Wahi. The show, which took original inspiration from Mira Nairʼs 1988 film, reaches beyond the specificity of Mumbai as a place, investigating different facets of “the city” in general. In December, Wahiʼs Salaam Bombay was featured in ART ASIA Presents, the curatorial and educational program at the premier International Asian art fair, ART ASIA in Miami.

Twelve Gates is delighted to present Philadelphia-based artist Antonio Puri's latest series, Chakra, in his solo show. Puri utilizes symbols, forms, and spatial concern as a means to express his need for universality. Drawing inspiration from the unity between the microscopic and the macrocosmic, his process is a personal expression of a questioning how he fits into the universe as an artist and creator. 

Twelve Gates Arts is thrilled to host the inaugural showing of CARE Package c/o Philadelphia, PA, to open on October 5th, 2012. The show will run through October 26th, 2012. 

The exhibition is conceived as a small-scale international traveling show of five female artists from Asia or of Asian descent touching venues in North America as well as Asia. Taking inspiration from the concept of a care package sent to each host country, the artists will ship or bring their gifts in the form of multi-media works that will be shared with local audiences.

Twelve Gates Arts is pleased to present the works of artists Hiba Schahbaz and Menaka Gopalan. Re-contextualizing miniature painting, Schahbaz’s recent work explores the subject of self-portraiture through paintings of family members and loved ones in search of a balance between personal content and accessible imagery. In a similar vein, Gopalan’s works delineate conditions of rituals, gendered ideals, and monumentalizing space through digital video, photography, and collage.

Twelve Gates Arts is pleased to present In a world where there are five women I am the seventh, an art exhibition by the acclaimed artist Qasim Riza Shaheen. The films, text, and prints in this show explore the themes of queer mysticism and gender studies through series of self-portraits, poetry, music and dance.

Join us at the opening reception to witness Odissi dancer Shibani Patnaik interpret Qasim Riza Shaheen's art through her dance. She presents an abhinaya or expression piece in an Odissi context, exploring the similarities in expression, mood and setting found in Shaheen's 'Do you take me?' Shibani will also present a piece on Ardhaniswaara, the merging and unique manifestation of the feminine and masculine into one divine force, drawing from Shaheen's art that challenges gender roles and obviates them in the matters of devotion to the beloved.

Qasim Riza Shaheen is an artist based in Manchester, UK. His work has been programmed widely including at The National Review of Live Art, Glasgow; Liverpool Biennial; Port City & Breathing Space at Arnolfini in Bristol; Castlefield Gallery in Manchester; Corona Cork Film Festival, Cork; Alhamra National Gallery and Rohtas Gallery in Lahore, Pakistan where he taught and completed an artist residency with the National College of Arts; and Siddhartha Hall at Max Muella Bhavan, Delhi.

Twelve Gates Arts is delighted to present accomplished Australian artist Damon Kowarsky’s first US solo exhibition. The show brings together miniature paintings on vasli, etchings, and charcoal drawings. The works are based on Kowarsky’s travels to cities in America and the Indian sub-continent. Cities such as Jodhpur, Lahore, Chicago, New York, and Cairo are culturally and geographically distinct from each other yet Kowarsky’s drawings/renditions binds them together on a human level.

Artist Amina Ahmed and works from Polly & Me.

Daisy Rockwell paints under the takhallus, or alias, Lapata (pronounced 'láh-puht-áh'), which is Urdu for "missing," or "absconded," as in "my luggage is missing," or "the bandits have absconded." She also writes for the blog Chapati Mystery and has posted many of her paintings there. Lapata grew up in a family of artists in western Massachusetts, some whose work adorns the surfaces of chinaware and brightens up the waiting rooms of dentists' offices, and others whose artistic output has found more select audiences. From 1992-2006, Lapata made a detour into Academia, from which she emerged with a PhD in South Asian literature and a mild case of depression.