Aysha Akhtar

“The In-Betweens”

July 22 – October 20

     Aysha Akhtar is an artist, writer, activist, and neurologist. A Pakistani-American, she was born in London and now lives in Maryland with her husband and two felines. Her life’s goal has been a pursuit of beauty as a state of being. In her personal and professional life, she has both experienced and witnessed profound cruelty, suffering, and ugliness. These experiences have caused her to seek the sublime in the deepest forms through social activism, medicine, and kindness, and, most recently, in her art.

     Having grown up in poverty after her family immigrated to the US, Aysha spent most of her childhood exploring nature (which was free) and marveling at its shifting and transient wonders—at how certain trees wove together as though embracing one another, how the wind carried the whispers of the pine trees, how a trickle of water invited daydreams. It is in these times and places that she is closest to reaching a state of beauty.

     In her paintings, she strives to recapture that elusiveness of not just place, but also of time: specifically, the in-betweens of time and place.  Her brushstrokes, loose and intuitive, mirror the spontaneity inherent in the natural world, allowing the paintings to emerge organically on the canvas. 

     An emerging artist, Aysha is an MFA candidate at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her paintings have been exhibited in multiple group exhibitions, including the Circle Gallery, District Arts Gallery, and Silvermine Galleries.  This is her second solo show.  We are delighted to have “The In-Betweens” in our Transverse Gallery!