Forced to leave Afghanistan as a child, Lida Abdul’s artworks address the ramifications of exile, war, and oppression. Her compelling images of bombed and ruined buildings challenge conventional thinking about architecture by forcing the viewer to confront the destroyed building not as a ruin or as empty space, but as an expression of architecture of absence. Born in Kabul in 1973, Lida Abdul left Afghanistan at the Soviet invasion in 1979. A 2006 recipient of the Prince Claus Laureate award, Abdul was the first Afghani artist to participate in the Venice Biennale (2005).

The Architecture of Desire is sponsored by: The Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation.