Glass artist Hasna Sal in her recent exhibit “Into the Light” at Westport Presbyterian Church. (photo by Jim Barcus)
Known for her growing corpus of public art projects and advocacy on behalf of trafficking victims, the Kansas City glass artist is the recipient of the Neighborhood Stabilization Merit Award from Historic Kansas City.
Hasna Sal is opening eyes and changing minds and hearts, one story at a time.
On Nov. 12, 2021, Sal opened an exhibition at Westport Art Center. “Into the Light: Glass Art and Poetry” showcased the artist’s painted glass panels and the award-winning glass sculpture “Dystopia.” The exhibition’s opening night served as the official launch for “Poems in Glass,” a book of lyrical verse and memoir. The evening also served as a platform for her advocacy work, which involves giving a voice to some of the most marginalized women in society.
A native of India, Sal was educated in Europe and the United States and earned a degree in architecture from The Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. After relocating to Kansas in 2002, she was a practicing architect and taught Design Studio at the University of Kansas before making the decision to pursue her art practice full time. She studied landscape architecture at Harvard University, which she says solidified her interest in glass as the primary medium for her depictions of the natural world. Her studio, Glass Concepts 360, specializes in design services, custom artwork and commissioned projects and features a gallery of glass sculptures, glass panels, jewelry and functional objects for the home.
“I am a storyteller at heart.”
Hasna Sal
Prominent in the Westport exhibition were the maquettes (a scale model or draft for a larger work) for “Into the Light,” a public art project that Sal conceived as a way to bring awareness to the problem of human trafficking. Four glass panels, “Isolation,” “Damnation,” “Redemption” and “Salvation,” chronicle the journey from victimhood to empowerment. “I am a storyteller at heart,” she says. A longtime volunteer with an interest in social justice, she says a conversation with a friend about the prevalence of trafficking locally changed the course of her life; from that day she began to focus on combining art and activism to shine a light on this widespread but largely ignored phenomenon.
As she began to read and learn more about the ways in which women and children were being trafficked in the Kansas City metro area, Sal started contacting advocacy groups and local activists to see how she could make a difference. Visibility was one area that stood out for her; here was an area she could address via her creative practice. Lykins Square Park, once a notorious hub of the sex trade and human trafficking, was undergoing a major renovation. Sal and her fellow advocates saw the park as the ideal opportunity to bring awareness to the issue.
Synthesizing the stories related to her of abuse, trauma, and ultimately, survival, Sal completed four maquettes for the proposed project in the park. Through her network of contacts, she campaigned for and received the approval necessary for the project to go forward, and then led the effort to raise the necessary funding. In mid-2020, the four completed works were installed in the park. Each glass panel measures 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 feet, hung from light posts and placed 14 feet off the ground. At night the glowing panels bear witness to the stories of women bought and sold in this park.
On Oct. 24, 2020, Hasna Sal stood surrounded by survivors as the panels were dedicated by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas as the “first ever memorial to the victims of human trafficking.” The project has garnered much favorable publicity, and in November 2021, “Into the Light” was granted the Neighborhood Stabilization Merit award from Historic Kansas City, given to projects that significantly impact the revitalization of an historic neighborhood.
The last few years have brought numerous accolades. In 2018 and 2019, the artist was invited to showcase her glass jewelry at New York Fashion Week. Also in 2019, Sal was invited to participate in the International Contemporary Cannes Biennale, an exhibition held in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival. And in 2021, the artist had two sculptures included in the Lacarna Biennale in Cyprus. Still, Sal says her most satisfying achievement is her work as a victim’s advocate.
Locally, new public art projects are in the works. In 2021, Sal’s proposal for the KCI Airport project was chosen as one of the selections for two-dimensional art that will be installed on the terminal walls. The artist will create framed glass panels depicting vignettes of family life and leisure in the same jewel-toned, stained-glass style as “Into the Light.” Another public park project, “Live the Light,” is in progress for Independence Plaza Park in the Northeast neighborhood of Kansas City. Sal says this project is a continuation of the story from Lykins Square: “There is the story of survivors, but now they are mothers, and they are leaders, they are caregivers,” she says. The projected date of completion for “Live the Light” is March 2022.
The need for sanctuary was a guiding theme in her architectural practice and then became the basis for her passion for helping survivors. Sal sees public spaces, particularly parks, as the optimal way to offer an accessible respite through art. “Glass is a sustainable material, and I want to harness the maximum value of it to better the community,” she said. “When I was a child, I would walk past the church every day and see the stained-glass windows. I didn’t have to go to a museum, (the art) was right there . . . I want to bring that to our parks.” Visibility brings hope. And hope, she says, is powerful.
