IYP X B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation, Athens
Geometric Abstraction: Opy Zouni, Etel Adnan, Samia Halaby, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Lubna Chowdhary
Curated by: Yannis Bolis
Bringing together diverse artistic practices, the exhibition shifts attention from strict formalism to themes of memory, identity, politics, and cultural heritage. It also highlights the unique genealogies of abstraction in the Arab world, where Islamic aesthetics—geometry, repetition, and calligraphy—serve not merely as decoration but as a profound system of thought and interpretation. Here, the concept of the motif is redefined, emphasizing its intellectual and philosophical resonance.
This fall, the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music launches its exhibition program with an art show dedicated to six pioneering female voices in geometric abstraction: Opy Zouni, Etel Adnan, Samia Halaby, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, and Lubna Chowdhary.
From Choucair’s modular structures and Halaby’s dynamic compositions to Chowdhary’s architectural forms, these traditions forge an alternative narrative of abstraction. Adnan’s luminous landscapes, suspended between form and abstraction, and Abdulaziz’s works, which merge mathematics, language, and social critique, expand the visual field even further. Opy Zouni, born in Egypt, integrated the visual idioms of Islamic art early in her career, embedding her practice in a cross-cultural dialogue that is vividly reflected in the works presented here. The works of Opy Zouni form the central axis of the exhibition, engaging in a creative dialogue with the works of the other participating women artists.
Through these dialogues, the exhibition underscores that abstraction is not solely a Western invention but a global language, equally resonant from Beirut, Cairo, and Sharjah as from Paris and New York. This language operates as an act of resistance, a poetic articulation, and a vehicle of cultural continuity.
The Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Olga Kefalogianni, will inaugurate the exhibition on Wednesday, October 15, at 20:00.
Ebtisam Abdulaziz will attend the opening, and participate in a conversation, in conjunction with the exhibition, on Thursday, October 16, at 17:00.
Works on view are drawn from the collections of the Onassis Foundation, Irene Panagopoulos, the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, as well as other private collections.
Etel Adnan (1925–2021)
I Was Appointed the Poet of Heaven, 1986
ink and watercolor on paper
Open: 15 x 195.6 cm
Closed: 15 x 9 cm
Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection
Etel Adnan (1925–2021)
Untitled, c. 1970
oil on canvas
55 x 46 cm
Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection
Etel Adnan (1925–2021)
Untitled, 1985
oil on canvas
61 x 76.2 cm
Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection
Lubna Chowdhary (b. 1964)
Certain Times XII, 2019
ceramic
62 x 75 cm
