NADIA HAJI OMAR
Nadia Haji Omar's paintings and works on paper explore the intersection of language and abstract painting. Inspired by an ongoing research of scripts that include Sinhalese, Tamil, Arabic, and French, her intricate imagery combines inventive linguistic characters with references to landscape, mapping, and textile patterning. Haji Omar received a MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2014 and a BA from Bard College. Her works have been discussed in New York Magazine/Vulture, and Hyperallergic, among other publications, and are included in the collections of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI, the Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, MO, and Art in Embassies, US Department of State, Permanent Collection, US Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka, among others.
FEATURED ARTWORKS
NEWS
Nadia Haji Omar, Round Flowers, 2022
is included in the Spring 2024 issue
of n+1
alongside Iman Mersal’s Traces of Enayat: On Love and Silence
John Yau's 2022 essay
'In Praise of Illegibility (on Nadia Haji Omar)'
is included in the hardcover book
Please Wait by the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art
A collection of essays by award-winning author John Yau
Published by Black Sparrow Press
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GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
SELECTED OFF-SITE EXHIBITIONS
Nadia Haji Omar in
Here and Now, curated by John Yau and Wes Sherman
The Center for Contemporary Art
Bedminster, New Jersey
September 11 - December 11, 2020
Nadia Haji Omar
Ascension | Natural Selection, curated by Mary Birmingham
Solo exhibition
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
Summit, New Jersey
September 27, 2019 - February 9, 2020
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Image courtesy of Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, photo by Etienne Frossard
On the Wall: Nadia Haji Omar, curated by Jamilee Lacy
Solo exhibition
Providence College Galleries (Reilly Gallery)
Providence, Rhode Island
April 26 - July 28, 2018
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Image courtesy of Providence College Galleries, photo: Scott Alario
Nadia Haji Omar in
Manifold, curated by Melanie Kress
Bronx Art Space
Bronx, New York
January 9 - February 16, 2019
ACQUISITION
The RISD Museum has acquired
the Nadia Haji Omar painting Ai, 2018
PUBLICATIONS
Nadia Haji Omar: Ascension | Natural Selection
Exhibition catalogue
Essay by Mary Birmingham
2021
Nadia Haji Omar: Ellipsis
Exhibition booklet
Texts by Nadia Haji Omar, Kristen Lorello
2018
Sold out, please contact the gallery for a digital copy
SELECTED PRESS
In Praise of Illegibility
John Yau
Hyperallergic
May 3, 2022
Nadia Haji Omar’s Multicultural Cartography
John Yau
Hyperallergic
May 20, 2018
READ
Nadia Haji Omar
Jerry Saltz
New York Magazine/Vulture
April 30, 2018
READ