The Iraqi artist Vian Sora has seen the absolute worst that politics has to offer – she spent most of her first 30 years living under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, then endured the destruction of her country following the US invasion in 2003. Years later, she surfaced in the United States as a refugee. Her art, which mixes bright, neon colors with motifs from the ancient history of her homeland, is a testament to the history that has scarred her and her resilience as a survivor.
Settled now in Louisville, Kentucky, along with the family that she worked tirelessly to bring over from Iraq, she is a part of an art community grappling with what their vocation will mean now that Donald Trump has been elected president. The stakes for Sora are not just creative; her family itself may be threatened by Trump’s presidency. “I am acutely frightened by the prospects of refugees and immigrants becoming persona non grata,” she said, “as my sister has an asylum case that remains in jeopardy.”
