Vian Sora grew up in a Baghdad household that was completely opposed to the regime; her father owned an art gallery and her mother’s family ran an antiques auction house. In 1994, on the day of Sora’s high school graduation party, her family’s home was raided, the gallery was seized, and her father was abducted. For months, the Soras believed he was dead. But one day in September, he showed up at their front door, having negotiated his release. Such stories inform Sora’s art—colorful abstract paintings filled with themes of war, political unrest, migration, and her complicated coming of age. They also contain older stories. Sora is fascinated with ancient Mesopotamia and the technological advances that happened during that time. In her first New York City exhibition, she doesn’t shy away from conflict. Blurring the line between abstraction and figuration, Sora explains, “My intention is to suggest the turmoil that can disturb the thin surface of social order, and its effect on the human soul.” —Clara Molot