Judith Has Arrived

Judith Has Arrived is a group exhibition featuring the work of Aiza Ahmed, Sanié Bokhari, Maya Varadaraj. The artists in this exhibition dictate their identities and take control of the cultural narratives of their art. Judith Has Arrived is inspired by Italian Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi’s rendition of Judith slaying Holofernes. Gentileschi inserts herself in this Biblical story by portraying herself as Judith beheading the man threatening her homeland, one of the most profound assertions of feminine identity in all of art history. Ahmed, Bokhari, and Varadaraj reinterpret the role of women amidst patriarchy and challenge what it means to gain agency in the 21st century.

Sanié Bokhari offers direct representations of feminist agency through portraying herself as an idol in her works. The artist reflects on the cultural traditions of her native Pakistan and their societal implications on the perception of women, to which Bokhari responds through depictions of herself gracefully dancing or wielding swords atop severed male heads. Her monumental self-portraits are powerful representations of feminine strength amidst opposition.