Ambreen Butt
Lay Bare My Arms
November 9–December 22, 2023
436 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco, CA: Gallery Wendi Norris is delighted to present Lay Bare My Arms, Ambreen Butt’s first in-person solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring eight new meticulously painted and collaged works, this exhibition coincides with the release of Butt’s first monograph, What Comes to My Lips.
Lay Bare My Arms foregrounds Butt’s perspective as a woman and a mother, processing the consequences of political stagnation and gun violence in America. Combining the radiant aesthetics of South Asian miniature paintings with the democratic nature of collage, Butt adorns her paintings with textual fragments from the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, an artistic interpretation that questions how the law is changed within and by society.
A central work in this exhibition, Guardians of Safe Heavens, features two figures that resemble demons. One holds a pistol, symbolizing the ever-present threat of violence that can disrupt the sanctity of life. The other cradles a walking iris, whose ephemeral bloom lasts only one day, emphasizing the fragility of existence. Though these creatures suggest potential danger, they are also engagingly rendered, inviting viewers to contemplate the delicate balance between safety and risk in today's time. This work, along with the other seven pieces of Lay Bare My Arms, asks the fundamental question, where are the safe spaces for the most vulnerable?
Rather than inciting a political call to action, Butt positions herself as a witness and record-keeper. Lay Bare My Arms, like her previous Say My Name series, prompts viewers to consider the realities of those afflicted by violence, going beyond the role of a news consumer with the privilege of distance from lived violence.
ABOUT THE MONOGRAPH
What Comes to My Lips is the first monograph on the artist Ambreen Butt.
Illuminated with images of the artist’s paintings, collaged works on paper, and large-scale installations from the past three decades, this 148-page publication includes texts by esteemed Afro-Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons; contemporary art curator and writer Sara Raza; and Pakistani artist, curator, and critic Quddus Mirza. The book is published by Black Dog Press, London.