Shamila Chaudhary
Attention Surplus Disorder
October 7–October 29, 2023

The 9/11 attacks gave the US government and Americans a lot to think about. Our government reacted with a forceful response but many of us didn’t fully anticipate how a new era of war would reshape what it meant to be an American. I saw this up close while working for over a decade in national security jobs in the US government. When I left government in 2011, I created the paintings in this exhibit to explore the impact of two decades of war on our sense of self. The exhibit’s title, Attention Surplus Disorder, refers to the disordered state of our minds after 9/11 and the surplus of attention on fear. While I’ve written extensively about these issues, painting offers a new medium to contemplate them in and alternative methods of communicating how war reshapes the way we see ourselves and others.

About the artist:

Shamila Chaudhary is a foreign policy professional who worked in the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the White House National Security Council. After working for over a decade in the U.S. government on policy issues related to the 9/11 attacks, Chaudhary began to explore policy issues through the creative process. A mostly self-taught multi-media artist, she studied photography at The George Washington University Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, co-edited the documentary photography book “UnPresidented: The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump and the People’s Response,” and served as President of the Board of Directors for “Focus on the Story,” an organization using visual storytelling to highlight critical issues, bridge cultural gaps and spark social change. At Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, she served as Executive Director of “The Big Picture,” a forum exploring international affairs through arts and culture.