Ghada Amer (b. 1963, Egypt) is an internationally acclaimed artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, textile, sculpture, and installation. Her work consistently challenges systems of power—particularly those surrounding gender, identity, and cultural authority—through a refined visual vocabulary that merges aesthetics with political critique.

At the core of our solo presentation at Art Basel, is Amer’s newest body of work: the QR CODES REVISITED series. These textile pieces, constructed using the traditional Egyptian khayamiya appliqué technique, mimic the visual logic of QR codes but resist their function. Many are intentionally distorted or fragmented, embedding phrases from Simone de Beauvoir, Malcolm X, Nawal El Saadawi, amongst thinkers whose voices speak to the histories and ongoing realities of oppresion. Some can be decoded, others remain elusive, inviting viewers to reflect on access, control, and the obscured nature of truth.

The production method is a conceptual statement: in Egypt, the craft of khayamiya is reserved exclusively for men. By commissioning male artisans to sew these politically charged works, Amer flips cultural assumptions around gender and labor, using tradition as both material and critique. While embroidery has long been central to her practice, here she turns the very structure of craft into a commentary on who is permitted to speak, and in which forms.

The series gains additional resonance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when QR codes became pervasive tools of surveillance and restricted mobility. By embedding feminist and revolutionary texts into these symbols of contemporary regulation, Amer underscores their potential for resistance.

Alongside the textiles, we are exhibiting a selection of Amer’s recent ceramics, created entirely by the artist during a residency in Arts Council of Princeton. These sculptural works continue her exploration of identity, form, and autonomy, while embracing the immediacy and freedom of hand-built clay. Now widely recognised as a vital extension of her practice, the ceramics offer a tactile, intuitive counterpoint to the precision of the textile works.

Together, these two bodies of work present Ghada Amer at a moment of conceptual clarity and formal evolution, offering a potent and timely commentary on visibility, authorship, and the codes—both literal and symbolic—that structure our world.