Statement + Bio
Arnela Mahmutović is a visual artist who lives and works in Albany, New York. Born in Hamburg, Germany and child of parents from former Yugoslavia, Arnela’s paintings explore the intersections of her traditional upbringing within Western society. A vocabulary of narrative, history and displacement found in diasporic experience is at the root of her visual language. Drawing inspiration from illuminated manuscripts, contemporary imagery and personal stories, Arnela’s work is a continued investigation of the histories that surround her. Each piece describes where different influences overlap or combine with her Balkan heritage, resulting in an intimate and shifting relationship between displaced bodies and invented spaces; constructed worlds in which each live as agents of their own narrative.
Arnela’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions along the East Coast, most notably at the New York State Museum and the ICA in Portland, Maine. She is the recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for emerging artists. Arnela holds her BFA in Painting from Maine College of Art and completed a master’s degree in Studio Art at the University at Albany.