ABOUT
Biography
Aisha Khalid is one of the most prominent contemporary artists from Pakistan. She graduated in traditional miniature painting from National College of Arts, Lahore, and Post-Graduation at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2001-2002.
As a prominent woman artist, educationalist, agriculturalist and curator, Aisha Khalid has effortlessly advanced herself to become one of the most significant artists of her day. Since the nineteen-nineties Khalid has played a vital role in the contemporary neo-miniature movement, redefining miniature painting in Pakistan and its reception worldwide. Creating dramatic conflations of pattern and geometry that form a field of inquiry that is as much about power dynamics, specifically the North-South divide, as it is concerned with spiritual connections.
Having grown up in Faisalabad, Khalid’s worldview is deeply rooted in the history of the East. Indebted to the ancient vocabulary of Mughal Miniature, Khalid has extended the medium to video, in-situ installation and immersive textile based works that offer a critique of global politics and Orientalism, and for that Khalid’s contribution to the contemporary miniature paintings and Pakistani art is immeasurable. Having received her formal training as a miniature painter from the National College of Arts Lahore, she very quickly sought to stretch the boundaries of traditional miniature practice beyond its obvious limitations of scale and two dimensionality, to include the physical and ephemeral elements of ‘space’, ‘time’ and ‘sound’ to her work. As Khalid challenges preexisting cultural and political frameworks, encouraging audiences to re-examine ideals. Her distinct imagery and visual vocabulary emerge from her own surroundings, influences and childhood memories.
Completing her post-graduate studies at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, in 2002. Khalid went onto participate in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the commission and acquisition project for King Abdul Aziz Centre, Ithra, Saudi Arabia, APT Asia Pacific Triennial 2018 Queensland, Lahore Biennale 2018, SMK National Art Gallery/Museum 2016 Copenhagen, Aga Khan Museum 2014 Toronto, Moscow Biennale 2013, Sharjah Biennale 2011, Venice Biennial 2009, Fukuoka triennial 2001, Bag-e-Babur 2008 Kabul and in London, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester, The Royal Academy and Modern Art Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands.
More recently in 2018 Khalid was commissioned to paint a vast mural, ‘You are the universe in ecstatic motion’, for Islamabad International Airport, situated in the departures lounge. Her work, including a series of commissions, is included in a number of leading museums and private collections all over the world.
Artists new initiative is turning her own studio spaces/farming land into shared environments. In a constantly developing art project this studio and her gardens will evolve with over time.
As a prominent woman artist, educationalist, agriculturalist and curator, Aisha Khalid has effortlessly advanced herself to become one of the most significant artists of her day. Since the nineteen-nineties Khalid has played a vital role in the contemporary neo-miniature movement, redefining miniature painting in Pakistan and its reception worldwide. Creating dramatic conflations of pattern and geometry that form a field of inquiry that is as much about power dynamics, specifically the North-South divide, as it is concerned with spiritual connections.
Having grown up in Faisalabad, Khalid’s worldview is deeply rooted in the history of the East. Indebted to the ancient vocabulary of Mughal Miniature, Khalid has extended the medium to video, in-situ installation and immersive textile based works that offer a critique of global politics and Orientalism, and for that Khalid’s contribution to the contemporary miniature paintings and Pakistani art is immeasurable. Having received her formal training as a miniature painter from the National College of Arts Lahore, she very quickly sought to stretch the boundaries of traditional miniature practice beyond its obvious limitations of scale and two dimensionality, to include the physical and ephemeral elements of ‘space’, ‘time’ and ‘sound’ to her work. As Khalid challenges preexisting cultural and political frameworks, encouraging audiences to re-examine ideals. Her distinct imagery and visual vocabulary emerge from her own surroundings, influences and childhood memories.
Completing her post-graduate studies at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, in 2002. Khalid went onto participate in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the commission and acquisition project for King Abdul Aziz Centre, Ithra, Saudi Arabia, APT Asia Pacific Triennial 2018 Queensland, Lahore Biennale 2018, SMK National Art Gallery/Museum 2016 Copenhagen, Aga Khan Museum 2014 Toronto, Moscow Biennale 2013, Sharjah Biennale 2011, Venice Biennial 2009, Fukuoka triennial 2001, Bag-e-Babur 2008 Kabul and in London, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester, The Royal Academy and Modern Art Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands.
More recently in 2018 Khalid was commissioned to paint a vast mural, ‘You are the universe in ecstatic motion’, for Islamabad International Airport, situated in the departures lounge. Her work, including a series of commissions, is included in a number of leading museums and private collections all over the world.
Artists new initiative is turning her own studio spaces/farming land into shared environments. In a constantly developing art project this studio and her gardens will evolve with over time.
