Shahzia Sikander

The first solo exhibition in Europe by the Pakistan artist Shahzia Sikander includes drawings, animations and new works. Sikander specializes in traditional Indian and Persian miniature painting. While becoming an expert in this technique-driven art form, she imbued it with a personal context and history, blending the Eastern focus on precision and methodology with a Western emphasis on creative, subjective expression. Reared as a Muslim, Sikander is also interested in exploring both sides of the Hindu and Muslim “border,” often combining imagery from both—such as the Muslim veil and the Hindu multi-armed goddess—in a single painting.

Sikander was born in 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan, and currently lives in New York. She studied Mughal miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, and later received an MFA in 1995 from the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. Sikander is a recent recipient of the MacArthur Foundation 2006 fellowship, often called the ‘genius grant’. Solo exhibitions include the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, and the Kemper Museum, Kansas City. She has also been included in many group exhibitions which include the Whitney Museum, New York, the Ludwig Museum, Köln, Germany, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This exhibition is curated by Enrique Juncosa, Director, IMMA. A publication accompanies the exhibition.

Pressetext

Shahzia Sikander
Kurator: Enrique Juncosa