Ruhee Maknojia

About the Artist

The unseen and often unexamined role that museums play in sustaining power structures animates the work of Ruhee Maknojia. Replicating the fate of twin antique carpets from Iran, she examines how cultural objects can be curated into art, allowing museums to partake of the imperial strategy of orientalizing the ‘other’ and controlling the narrative. Her work challenges notions of the uniqueness of civilizations, revealing how cultural and aesthetic traditions evolve through layered influences including Islamic theology and Judeo-Christian histories.