Since the early 1990s, Shahzia Sikander has been instrumental in the rediscovery, re-infusion, and re-contextualization of Indo-Persian miniature painting. Trained as a miniaturist at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Sikander has pioneered an experimental approach to the anachronistic genre. Encompassing painting; drawing; animation; installation; video, and film Sikander’s multi-dimensional praxis radically rearticulates the miniaturist tradition by inserting new dialogue that is often subversive and polemical in nature. Working from a rich ‘mental archive of imagery’, Sikander’s visual vocabulary engages a multiplicity of themes including transformation as narrative, the exploration of disruption as a means to cultivate new associations, and issues concerning labour, scale and time.
Shahzia Sikander was born in 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan. She received her B.FA from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan and an M.F.A from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Major solo exhibitions of Sikander’s work include: Parallax, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu (2017); Ecstasy As Sublime, Heart As Vector, MAXXI | Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2016); Parallax, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2015); Parallax, Bildmuseet Umea, Sweden (2014); Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio (2012-13); Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC (2012); Transformations, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2010); Para/Site, Hong Kong (2009); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2008); daadgalerie, Berlin (2008); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2007); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2007); Miami Art Museum, Miami (2005); Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield (2004); The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego (2004); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C (2000), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1999) and the Renaissance Society, Chicago (1998). Major group exhibitions include: Karachi Biennale, Karachi (2017); Performing Time, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai (2016); If you were to live here…, The 5th Auckland Triennial, Auckland (2013); Sharjah Biennale 11, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2013); Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou (2012); Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka (2012); Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigration and Populism, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto (2011); Future Pass: From Asia to the World, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice (2011); Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2011); Monumental ‘Miniatures’: Large-scale Paintings from India, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (2010); One Image May Hide Another: Arcimboldo-Dali-Raetz, Galeries Nationals du Grand Palais, Paris (2009); Order. Desire. Light. : An Exhibition of Contemporary Drawings, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2008); Take 2: Women Revisiting Art History, SFMoMA, San Francisco (2007).
Sikander has been the recipient of numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the Shahneela and Farhan Faruqui Popular Choice Art Prize at the Karachi Biennale (2017), the Inaugural Medal of Art, US Department of State (2012), John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Achievement award (2006-2011); the National Pride of Honor by the Pakistani Government (2005), the Joan Mitchell award (1998-999), and the Tiffany foundation award (1997). In 2006 Sikander was a named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Shahzia Sikander lives and works in New York.
Shahzia SIKANDER
Born 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan
Lives and works in New York
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Parallax, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii – US
Project Gallery: Shahzia Sikander, Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida – US
2016
Ecstasy As Sublime, Heart As Vector, MAXXI | Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma – IT
Shahzia Sikander: Apparatus of Power, Chantal Miller Gallery, Asia Society Hong Kong Center – HK
2015
Midnight Moment: Gopi Contagion, Times Square Public Art, New York – US
Parallax, Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford – US
Parallax, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao – ES
Shahzia Sikander, Tufts uNIVERSITY art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts – US
Shahzia Sikander, Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York – US
2014
Parallax, Bildmuseet, Umeå – SE
Parallax, Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas – US
Parallax, Nicolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen
Project Gallery: Shahzia Sikander, Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida – US
2013
Parallax, Pilar Corrias, London – UK
2012
The Last Post, Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas – US
Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC – US
Douglas Library, Institute for Women and Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey – US
2011
Shahzia Sikander: The exploding company man and other abstractions, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco – US
Shahzia Sikander: Sift, Rift, Drip, Shift, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York – US
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston – US
2010
Transformations, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo – JP
Shahzia Sikander: Prolonged Exposure to Agitation, Valentina Bonomo, Rome – IT
2009
Authority as Approximation, Para/Site, Hong Kong – HK
I am also not my own enemy, Pilar Corrias, London – UK
Shahzia Sikander Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. New York – US
Stalemate. Sikkema Jenkins & Co. New York – US
2008
Intimate Ambivalence, IKON Gallery, Birmingham – UK
Daadgalerie, Berlin – DE
Interstitial: 24 Faces and the 25th Frame, Daadgalerie, Berlin – DE
2007
Shahzia Sikander, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney – AU
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin – IR
2006
Valentina Bonomo Arte Contemporanea, Rome – IT
Shahzia Sikander, Taipei Biennial – TW
Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia – US
Shahzia Sikander: New Work, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. New York – US
2005
51 Ways of Looking, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York – US
Dissonance to Detour, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles – US
Miami Art Museum, Miami – US
2004
Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York – US
Shahzia Sikander: Flip Flop, The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego – US
Contemporary Links: Shahzia Sikander, The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego – US
2003
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle – US
Drawing to Drawing, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco – US
SpiNN, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York – US
2002
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont – US
2001
Shahzia Sikander, Asia Society, New York – US
Intimacy, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas – US
2000
Acts of Balance, Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York – US
1999
Directions: Shahzia Sikander, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C – US
1998
Shahzia Sikander, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago – US
Shahzia Sikander: Drawings and Miniatures, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, Missouri – US
Murals and Miniatures, Deitch Projects, New York – US
The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, Missouri – US
1997
A Kind of Slight and Pleasing Dislocation, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco – US
The Drawing Center, New York – US
Murals and Miniatures, Deitch Projects, New York – US
1996
Knock Knock Who’s There? Mithilia, Mithilia Who?, Project Row Houses, Houston – US
Art Celebration 96: Shahzia Sikander, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston – US
Glassell at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston – US
Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston – US
Project Row Houses, Houston – US
1992
Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad – PK
Pakistan Embassy, Washington D.C. – US
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Everything we do is music, Drawing Room, London – UK
2016
Women in Print, Pace Prints, New York – US
Performing Time, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai – CN
Drawing Conclusions, RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island– US
Mixtape 2016, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London – UK
20th Anniversary Exhibition, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, California – US
2015
Annual 2015: The Depth of the Surface, National Academy Museum, New York – US
Our Land / Alien Territory (part of the special program of the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art), Manege, Moscow – RU
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art (curated by Donald Albrecht and Tom Mellins), Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu – US
Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, curated by Alexandra Schwartz, Monclair Art Museum, New Jersey – US
Hare & Hound Press + artpace: the Art of Collaboration, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas – US
Teoría del duende, Fondación Federico García Lorca, Madrid (and Grenada) – ES
2014
Past Traditions, Exhibit 320 (curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt), New Delhi – IN
Shahzia Sikander: Project Room, Perez Art Museum, Miami – US
Infinite Challenge, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul – KR
Yebisu International Festival for Art and Architecture, Tokyo – JP
Still Moves, ArtC Phoenix Market City, Chennai – IN
Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka – BD
Past Traditions/New Voices in Asian Art, Hofstra University Museum, New York – US
2013
13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul –TK
Beyond Belief: Highlights from SFMOMA Collection, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco – US
The Collectors Show, Singapore Art Museum – SG
Echoes: Islamic Art & Contemporary Artists, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City – US
If you were to live here…, The 5th Auckland Triennial, Auckland – NZ
Mom, Am I Barbarian?, The 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul – TK
Marking Language, Drawing Room, London – UK NO BORDERS: Contemporary art in a globalised world, (curated by Jeremy Lewison), Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol – UK
Re:emerge, towards a new cultural cartography, Sharjah Biennale 11, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah – AE
2012
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art, Museum of Art and Design, New York – US
Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha – QA
The Annual 2012, National Academy Museum, New York – US
Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou – KR
New Prints 2012/Summer, Selected by Shahzia Sikander, IPCNY, New York – US
Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka – JP
The 2nd Mardin Biennial, Mardin – TK
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka – JP
Shahzia Sikander and Jenny Holzer, Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. – US
Contemporary Asian Art: Texas Connections, Asia Society Texas Centre, Houston –US
2011
Power of Doubt, Curated by Hou Hanru, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou – CN
Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigration and Populism, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto – CA
Future Pass: From Asia to the World, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice – IT
Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston – US
2010
By Day, By Night, some (special) things a museum can do, Rockbund Museum, Shanghai – CN
Transformation, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo – JP
Video Art: Replay : Part 2: Everyday Imaginary, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Philadelphia – US
Space, From MAXXI’s collections of art and architecture, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome – IT
Monumental ‘Miniatures’: Large-scale Paintings from India, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia – US
The Holy Artwork, Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York – US
2009
Animamix Biennial: Visual Attract and Attack, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei – TW
Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin – DE
Something About Mary, Gallery Met, New York – US
The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka – JP
Moving Perspectives: Shahzia Sikander and Sun Xun, Sackler Gallery, The Smithsonian, Washington DC – US
Significant and Insignificant Events, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul –TK
It’s fine as long as you draw but don’t film, Pilar Corrias, London – UK
A Decade of Contemporary American Printmaking: 1999-2009, Tsinghua University, Beijing – CN
Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York – US; Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencià – ES
One Image May Hide Another: Arcimboldo-Dali-Raetz, Galeries Nationals du Grand Palais, Paris – FR
The 2nd Animamix Biennial, Taipei – TW
Tsinghua University and Today Art Museum, Beijing – CN
2008
Order. Desire. Light. : An Exhibition of Contemporary Drawings, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin – IR
The Big Bang, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome – IT
ev+a 2008 too early for vacation, Limerick – IR
Demons, Yarns & Tales, The Dairy, London – UK; The Loft, Miami – US
Perverted by Theater, Apexart, New York – US
International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Prague – CZ
2007
Delicatessen, University Galleries, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton – US
Don’t Look: Contemporary Drawings from an Alumna’s Collection (Martina Yamin, class of 1958), Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley – US
In Wonderland, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale – US
Timer: Intimita/Intimacy, Triennale Bosvisa, Milan – IT
New Media/New Materials: Highlights in Contemporary Art from the Fabric Workshop Museum, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Ohio – US
The Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh – UK
Not For Sale, PS1, Long Island City, New York – US
Cosmologies, James Cohen Gallery, New York – US
Global Feminisms, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Contemporary Art at The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn; Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley – US
Take 2: Women Revisiting Art History, SFMoMA, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland – US
Fantasmagoria, Dibujo en movimiento, Fundacion ICO, Madrid – ES
Hammer Contemporary Collection Part II, The Hammer Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles – US
2006
Dirty Yoga: 2006 Taipei Biennial, Taipei – TW
Domains of Wonder: Masterworks of Indian painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – US
Without Boundary: Seventeen ways of Looking, Museum of Modern Art, New York – US
Shahzia Sikander. The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia – US
Video Venice, Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Adelaide – AU
Nuevos Misticos/New Mystics, Instituto Cabrera Pinto, La Laguna. Tenerife – ES
The Quiet in The Land, National Museum, Luang Prabang, Laos – TH
JaGGy-edge, The Traveling Gallery, Edinburgh – UK
2005
Translation, Palais de Tokyo, Paris – FR
Always a little further, curated by Rosa Martinez, 51st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice – IT
New Work/ New Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York – US
Drawing Narrative, College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster – US
Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now, The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York – US
Zeitsprunge Raumfolgen, IFA: Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, Berlin – DE
2004
The Print Show, Exit Art, New York – US
First International Biennial of Contemporary Art-The joy of my dreams, Charterhouse of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, Seville – ES
Through Master’s Eyes, LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles – US
Watercolor Worlds, Dorsky Gallery, New York – US
Along the X-Axis: Video Art from India and Pakistan, Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi, India
Beyond East and West, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois; Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts – US
Anywhere but here, Seven artists Pernament Commissions for Barts – UK
2003
Poetic Justice, The 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul – TR
Aliens in America: Others in the USA, Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire – US
Drawing the World: Masters to Hipsters, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia – CN
2002
AOP 2002: The 37th Art on Paper Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina – US
Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, Museum of Modern Art, Queens, New York – US
Time/Frame, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin – US
Urgent Painting, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris/ARC, Paris – FR
2001
Conversations with Traditions, Nilima Sheikh and Shahzia Sikander, Asia Society, New York; travelled to: Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, VT; Royal Museum of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI – US*
ARS 01, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki – FI
Elusive Paradise: The Millennium Prize, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa – CN
Threads of Vision: Toward a New Feminine Poetics, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio – US
Expanding Tradition: Contemporary Works Influenced by Indian Miniatures, Deutsche Back Lobby Gallery, New York – US
New Works: 01.1 Rivane Neuenschwander, Shahzia Sikander, Tony Villejo, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas – US
New Artists, Recent Works, Rhotas Gallery, Islamabad – PK
2000
Projects 70, Museum of Modern Art, New York – US
00, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York – US
Drawing on the Figure: Works on paper of the 1990s from the Manilow Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago – US
Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York – US
The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-2000, Part II, 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York – US
1999
Negotiating Small Truths, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin – US
Art-Worlds in Dialogue, Museum Ludwig, Cologne – DE
The 3rd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT3), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane – AU
The American Century: Art & Culture 1900 – 2000, Part II, Whitney Museum of American Art – US
1998
On the Wall: Shahzia Sikander, William Kentridge, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri – US
On Liberating Tradition: Byron Kim, Yinka Shonibare and Shahzia Sikander, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson – US
Global Vision: New Art from the 90s, Part II, Deste Foundation, Center for Contemporary Art, Athens – GR
Pop Surrealism, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut – US
I Love New York, Ludwig Museum, Cologne – DE
Cinco continentes y una ciudad: Salón internacional de pintura, Museo de la Ciudad de México, Mexico City – MX
1997
Out of India: Contemporary Art of the South Asian Diaspora, Queens Museum of Art, New York – US
Three Great Walls, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco – US
7th Bienal Internacional de Escultura E Desenho, Caldas de Rainha – PT
The Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York – US
1995
An Intelligent Rebellion, Women Artists of Pakistan, Cartwright Hall, Lister Park, Bradford – UK
Houston Area Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston – US
Core Fellows Exhibition 1996, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston – US
1994
A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California – US
PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS AND COMMISSIONS
2016
Economics Department and the Louis A. Simpson *60 International Building, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
2015
Gopi Contagion, Times Square Arts: Midnight Moment, Times Square, New York – US
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
The Birmingham Museum, United Kingdom
Bradford City Museum, United Kingdom
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, United Kingdom
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
The Burger Collection Hong Kong, China
Centro Nazionale per le Arti Contemporanea Rome, Italy
Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Deutsche Bank, Germany
Devi Art Foundation, India
Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington D.C.
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas
Kadist Art Foundation, France
Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas
MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Rhode Island
Royal Ontario Museum, Canada
San Diego Art Museum, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
EDUCATION
1995
M.F.A., Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, US
1991
B.F.A., National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND RESIDENCIES
2016
Vikram and Geetanjali Kirloskar Visiting Scholar in Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
2015
Asia Society Award for Significant Contribution to Contemporary Art, Asia Society Art Gala, Hong Kong
2014
Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Satatoga Springs, New York
Art Prize in Time-Based Art from Grand Rapids Museum
Bildmuseet Umea University, Sweden
2012
Inaugural Medal of Art, US Department of State (AIE), Washington D.C.
2010
SCMP Art Futures Award, Hong Kong International Art Fair
Academician of the National Academy Museum
2009
The Inaugural Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Creative Arts Fellowship
Guggenheim Asian Arts Council
2008
Performing and Visual Arts Achiever of the Year award presented by the South Asian Excellence Awards
2007
Artist-in-residence, DAAD program 2007-2008 (Berliner Künstlerprogramm, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)
2006
Young Global leader, World Economic Forum
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship ‘Genius’ Award
2005
Tamgha-e-imtiaz, National Medal of Honor, Government of Pakistan
Jennifer Howard Coleman Distinguished Lectureship and Residency
2003
Commendation Award, Mayor’s Office, City of New York
1999
The Joan Mitchell Award
South Asian Women’s Creative Collective Achievement Award
1997
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
1995
Core Fellowship 1995 – 1997, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1993
Graduate Fellowship Award 1993-1995, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
1992
Shakir Ali Award/Kipling award, (highest merit award) National College of Arts Lahore Haji Sharif Award, Pakistan
Sharif Award, (excellence in Miniature Painting) National College of Arts, Lahore
1992
Distinction Award, Thesis Project, National College of Arts, Lahore
SHAHZIA SIKANDER IN KARACHI BIENNALE 2017
22 October – 5 November 2017 Narayan Jagannath Vaidya (NJV) High School KB17 is Pakistan’s largest international contemporary art event that will take place every two years in Karachi. This October, over 140 artists from Pakistan and across the globe … More
Shahzia Sikander at Princeton University Art Museum
Princeton University presents a new commission by Shahzia Sikander. Sikander’s spectacular, sprawling sixty-six-foot mosaic and twenty-five-foot luminous multilayered glass painting joins the Museum’s collection. The two site-specific works will be permanently installed at the newly renovated 20 Washington Road, the new … More
Pilar Corrias at Art Basel Miami Beach 2016
We are excited to announce Pilar Corrias Gallery will be participating in Art Basel | Miami Beach 2016. The gallery will present works by artists: Ulla von Brandenburg Gerasimos Floratos Tala Madani Ken Okiishi Philippe Parreno Mary Ramsden Tschabalala Self Shahzia … More
Shahzia Sikander and Philippe Parreno at Frieze London 2016
At Frieze London 2016, Pilar Corrias Gallery will present a two person installation of established artists Philippe Parreno and Shahzia Sikander. The booth will feature Shahzia Sikander’s Singing Suns (2016) and Philippe Parreno’s Speech Bubbles (Transparent Orange) (2016), and will … More
Shahzia Sikander “Ecstasy as Sublime, Heart as Vector” at MAXXI, Rome
In the exhibition the artist will create a layout specifically for the museum with over 30 works in various media and idioms, from drawing to miniatures referring to the Indo-Persian tradition and from video to digital animation. Included are works … More
“Performing Time” an exhibition co-presented by Leo Xu Projects and Pilar Corrias Gallery at Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
PILAR CORRIAS GALLERY and LEO XU PROJECTS cordially invite you to the opening of group exhibition “Performing Time” on Saturday, April 23rd, 2016, 6-8pm at LEO XU PROJECTS’ Shanghai space. Co-organized and co-produced by both galleries, the show features recent … More
Shahzia Sikander at Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Shahzia Sikander (1969 – ) presents her first major solo exhibition in Hong Kong. This body of work explores Hong Kong’s colonial complexity, both historical and current. Installed within the Former Explosives Magazine Compound of Asia Society Hong Kong Center, … More
Shahzia Sikander at Guggenheim Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Shahzia Sikander’s work Parallax (2013); a multichannel installation composed of hundreds of digitally animated images. As her starting point, the artist focuses on the geostrategic position of the Strait of Hormuz. Concepts such as the ideas of … More
Pilar Corrias at Art Basel Hong Kong 2015
We are excited to announce Pilar Corrias will be participating in Art Basel Hong Kong 2015. The gallery will present works by artists: Koo Jeong A Tala Madani Ken Okiishi Philippe Parreno Shahzia Sikander Rirkrit Tiravanija Tunga Art Basel Hong … More
Shahzia Sikander special performance at Linda Pace Foundation
The Board of Trustees of the Linda Pace Foundation is excited to announce a live performance with composer Du Yun in conjunction with the United States premiere of Parallax, a three-channel HD animation by Shahzia Sikander. The performance will take … More
Shahzia Sikander at Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden
Bildmuseet presents the first solo exhibition of Shahzia Sikander’s work in Scandinavia. Focusing on her recent production, the exhibition Parallax presents Sikander’s video installation Parallax as well as several drawings. Parallax is comprised of hundreds of tiny drawings that have been … More
Shahzia Sikander at Lahore Literary Festival
Shahzia Sikander will be speaking as part of the programme of events at the Lahore Literary Festival this February (21-23). The festival a whole brings together, disscuses, and celebrates the diverse and pluralistic literary traditions of Lahore. Sikander will be … More
Shahzia Sikander at Dhaka Art Summit 2014
Shahzia Sikander’s three channel, high-definition, animation Parallax from 2013 will be exhibited at the 2nd edition of Dhaka Art Summit, taking place in the coming year from February 7-9, 2014. In a programme curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, Sikander was selected as … More
Shahzia Sikander at Drawing Room, London
Shahzia Sikander is included in the exhibition Marking Language at Drawing Room, London opening in October 2013. Marking Language is the first collaborative project between Drawing Room, London and Drawing Center, New York, and both galleries will present parallel exhibitions that explore … More
Shahzia Sikander at the 13th Istanbul Biennial
Shahzia Sikander will have works included in the 13th Istanbul Biennial Mom, Am I Barbarian?, curated by Fulya Erdemci. The notion of the public domain as a political forum will be the focal point of the 13th Istanbul Biennial. This highly contested concept … More
Shahzia Sikander at Bloomberg HQ, New York
Shahzia Sikander has been invited to participate in the site-specific exhibition The Lift:II, commissioned by Art21 for the elevators at Bloomberg HQ in New York. For this second iteration of Art21’s elevator project Shahzia Sikander has designed the wallpaper for … More
Shahzia Sikander at the 5th Auckland Triennial, Auckland
Led by curator Hou Hanru, The 5th Auckland Triennial: If you were to live here… opens in May at Auckland Art Gallery and seven additional sites across Auckland. Shahzia Sikander is showing a new version of her film Parallax (2013) … More
Shahzia Sikander in conversation
Pilar Corrias Gallery and Drawing Room are delighted to invite you to Writing with Drawing: Shahzia Sikander in conversation with Kate Macfarlane The talk will take place at Pilar Corrias gallery, 54 Eastcastle street, London on Wednesday 20th February 2013 at 11am. … More
Shahzia Sikander at the Sharjah Biennial 11
Shahzia Sikander has been commissioned by curator Yuko Hasegawa (chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo) to create a site-specific work for the Sharjah Biennial 11. During the opening week there will be an evening performance by Shahzia … More
Tala Madani and Shahzia Sikander at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Tala Madani and Shahzia Sikander are currently taking part in NO BORDERS: Contemporary art in a globalised world at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition organised in partnership with Arnolfini together with independent curator Jeremy Lewison looks at … More
Shahzia Sikander at MAD, New York
Shahzia Sikander is taking part in the group show Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art curated by Donald Albrecht and Tom Mellins opening this autumn at the MAD, New York. The artist will present giant projections exploring … More
Shahzia Sikander honoured by US Department of State
We are delighted to announce that ART in Embassies, US Department of State (AIE) will be honouring Shahzia Sikander along with the artists Cai Guo-Qiang, Jeff Koons, Kiki Smith and Carrie Mae Weems for its 50th anniversary in Washington D.C. … More
Shahzia Sikander at the Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas
The Last Post by Shahzia Sikander, a 2010 animation inspired by the artist’s ongoing interest in British colonial history, will be on display at the Linda Pace Foundation for a period of 10 months. The musician Du Yun will perform the … More
Shahzia Sikander at The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha
Shahzia Sikander will be participating in the group exhibition Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts at The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. The exhibition is presented by the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (MIA), in … More
Shahzia Sikander at Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Shahzia Sikander has been selected to participate in the group exhibition, Transformation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. The exhibition explores the boundary between humans and non-humans and the potential and meaning of change. Transformation Museum of … More
Shahzia Sikander at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Shahzia Sikander is one of nine artists invited by the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai to participate in a three week residency programme which will result in the artists producing a site- specific project specially for the exhibition, By Day … More
‘Shahzia Sikander on defying conventions through her work’, Verve Magazine, September 2016 (Download PDF)
‘A Different Pakistan’, The New York Review of Books, March 2014 (Download PDF)
‘Animated Artist’, The Express Tribune, February 2014 (Download PDF)
‘Festival City’, The Friday Times, February 2014 (Download PDF)
‘Little Dictators’, Newsweek Pakistan, February 2014 (Download PDF)
Review, ‘Parallax’, Modern Painters, 2013 (Download PDF)
ArtNews, 2013 (Download PDF)
Essay by Jessica Morgan, 2011 (Download PDF)
ARTPULSE, 2010 (Download PDF)
Mixtape 2016
Pilar Corrias presents Mixtape 2016, a compilation of film and video from nine gallery artists. The exhibition devotes two days to each artist, showcasing the unique aesthetics of their practices and collectively the diversity of the gallery programme. Mixtape 2016 stems from … More
Shahzia Sikander ‘Parallax’
Internationally recognised, Pakistani born American artist, Shahzia Sikander is best known for her experimentation with the formal constructs of Indo-Persian miniature painting in a variety of formats and mediums, including video, animation, mural and collaboration with other artists. Over the … More
Shahzia Sikander ‘I am also not my own enemy’
Pilar Corrias Gallery is delighted to present ‘I am also not my own enemy’ the London debut of critically acclaimed artist Shahzia Sikander. Since the early 1990s, Shahzia Sikander has been instrumental in the rediscovery, re-infusion, and re-contextualization of Indo-Persian … More
‘It’s fine as long as you draw but don’t film’
Pilar Corrias Gallery is delighted to present ‘It’s fine as long as you draw but don’t film’ (Waltz with Bashir, 2008): An Exhibition of Drawings. Directed by Ari Folman, the Golden Globe Award wining, feature-length animation Waltz with Bashir (2008) … More