Portals

On View: June 13 - September 7, 2025

MEYER AND SMITH GALLERIES, MAIN LEVEL

Featured artists: Aiza Ahmed, Aryana Minai, and Shyama Golden

Portals explores the psychic, material, and spiritual states of life at the threshold. As a liminal and intermediary space, a portal is a channel between the earthly and divine, the conscious and the unconscious, as well as the material and dreamworld. In Persian, Urdu, and Arabic, darwazeh refers to a gate that reflects a spiritual point of transition. The paintings, sculpture, and installations included in this exhibition explore the idea of a portal as a physical passage, a doorway, a gate, or point of entry, while also referring to mystical and psychic passages via spiritual experience and the imaginary or dreamworld. Against a backdrop of diaspora and exile, the portals in this exhibition evoke experiences of loss and survival, mythology and the uncanny, as well as borders and boundaries. Through material and form each artist creates a multilayered sense of a portal that transports the viewer into another world.

Portals is organized by Donna Honarpisheh, Guest Curator

RELATED PROGRAMS

Portals: Virtual Artist Talk
Tuesday / July 29 / 6pm-7pm
WATCH THE VIRTUAL TALK

Art After Hours
Friday / June 13 / 6pm-9pm

DOWNLOAD THE EXHIBITION CATALOG

 

Call for Artists

Submit your work for a chance to be exhibited

Support the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

Make a Donation

Emily Fussner: Some Shining Coil of Wind

Through January 24, 2027

Some Shining Coil of Wind is a new site-specific installation by Resident Artist Emily Fussner that continues her long-standing exploration of place, resilience, and the ephemeral.

Fall Classes at MoCA!

Register today!

Sign up today for a class or workshop! MoCA offers a wide array of programs for kids, teens, and adults. From drawing and painting, to mixed media and pottery, you are sure to find a course that inspires! Classes fill up quickly so register today!

MoCA on the Move at Met Park

Sundays 10am-12pm

MoCA Arlington at Met Park
Fun for the whole family! No Experience Required offers playful art making activities for children (and their curious adults) every Sunday morning. There will be collaborative, community-built art works, and opportunities to “make and take” works, too.

CLOSE