Shahzia Sikander

Shahzia Sikander (born 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan) is a Pakistan-born American artist who specializes in Indian and Persian miniature painting. She has also created murals, installations, mixed-media works and performance art. She is a 2006 recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant". She currently resides in New York City.

Work

A Muslim from Pakistan working and living in America, Sikander has explored stereotypes of Eastern and Pakistani women, and issues relating to the Hindu and Muslim divide in Pakistan and India. She has transformed a traditional art form – the highly precise and often impersonal genre of miniature painting – into a contemporary art context, and she frequently mixes imagery from both Hindu and Muslim mythology and iconography (like the Muslim veil and the Hindu multi-armed goddess), paralleling the complicated and interwoven nature of Indian and Pakistani history and culture.

Sikander has also experimented with wearing a veil in public (which she did not do before moving to the United States), and has characterized this as a form of performance.

tudies

Shahzia Sikander did her undergraduate studies at National College of Arts in Lahore and received her Master of Fine Arts in 1995 from the Rhode Island School of Design.

olo exhibitions

Shahzia Shikander has participated in numerous exhibitions, and continues to do so.

* 2006 - Shahzia Sikander, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA, April 17-June 17
* 2005 - "51 Ways of Looking," Brent Sikkema New York, NY,
* 2005 - Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
* 2004 - Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York,
* 2004 - Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut
* 2004 - Shahzia Sikander: Flip Flop, The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California,
* 2004 - "Contemporary Links: Shahzia Sikander." The San Diego Museum of Art,San Diego,CA
* 2003 - Drawing to Drawing, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco
* 2003 - SpiNN, Brent Sikkema, New York
* 2001 - Intimacy, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas,
* 2000 - Acts of Balance, Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York
* 1999 - Directions: Shahzia Sikander, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
* 1998 - Shahzia Sikander, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago
* 1998 - Shahzia Sikander: Drawings and Miniatures, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, Missouri
* 1997 - Murals and Miniatures, Deitch Projects, New York
* 1997 - A Kind of Slight and Pleasing Dislocation, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco
* 1996 - Knock Knock Who's There? Mithilia, Mithilia Who? Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas, April
* 1996 - Art Celebration 96: Shahzia Sikander, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas
* 1993 - Pakistan Embassy, Washington DC

Group exhibitions

* 2005 - New Work/ New Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
* 2005 - Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now, The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York, NY
* 2004 - The Print Show, Exit Art, NY
* 2004 - First International Biennial of Contemporary Art-The joy of my dreams, Charterhouse of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, Seville, Spain
* 2004 - Through Master's Eyes, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
* 2004 - Anywhere but here-Seven artists Permanent Commissions for Barts and The London Breast Care Center
* 2004 - Watercolor Worlds, Dorsky Gallery, New York
* 2004 - Along the X-Axis: Video Art from India and Pakistan, Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi, India
* 2004 - Beyond East and West, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
* 2004 - Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
* 2004 - Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
* 2004 - Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
* 2003 - Poetic Justice, Eighth International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
* 2003 - Aliens in America: Others in the USA, Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire
* 2003 - Drawing the World: Masters to Hipsters, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 2002 - AOP 2002: The 37th Art on Paper Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
* 2002 - Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, Museum of Modern Art, Queens, New York
* 2002 - Time/Frame, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
* 2002 - Urgent Painting, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris/ARC, Paris
* 2001-2004 - "Conversations with Traditions, Nilima Sheikh and Shahzia Sikander"- Asia Society, New York; traveled 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
* 2001 - Conversations with Traditions: Nilima Sheikh and Shahzia Sikander, The Asia Society, New York
* 2001 - Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont
* 2001 - Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
* 2001 - ARS 01, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
* 2001 - Elusive Paradise: The Millennium Prize, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
* 2001 - Threads of Vision: Toward a New Feminine Poetics, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio
* 2001 - Expanding Tradition: Contemporary Works Influenced by Indian Miniatures, Deutsche Back Lobby Gallery, New York
* 2001 - 01.1 Rivane Neuenschwander, Shahzia Sikander, Tony Villejo, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas
* 2001 - New Artists, Recent Works, Rhotas Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
* 2000 - Projects 70, Museum of Modern Art, New York
* 2000 - 00, Barbara Gladstone Gallery
* 2000 - Drawing on the Figure: Works on paper of the 1990s from the Manilow Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
* 2000 - Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York
* 1999 - Art-Worlds in Dialogue, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
* 1999 - The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-2000, Part II, 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
* 1999 - Beyond the Future: The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
* 1999 - Negotiating Small Truths, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
* 1998 - Cinco continentes y una ciudad: Salón internacional de pintura, Museo de la Ciudad de México, Mexico City
* 1998 - I Love New York, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany
* 1998 - Pop Surrealism, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut
* 1998 - Global Vision: New Art from the 90s, Part II, Deste Foundation, Center for Contemporary Art, Athens
* 1998 - On Liberating Tradition: Byron Kim, Yinka Shonibare and Shahzia Sikander, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
* 1998 - On the Wall, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri
* 1998 - Hedge: Between Time and Intent. Thomas Healy, New York
* 1997 - Project Painting, Lehman Maupin Gallery, New York
* 1997 - Selections Spring ‘97, The Drawing Center, New York
* 1997 - Three Great Walls, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
* 1997 - Out of India: Contemporary Art of the South Asian Diaspora, Queens Museum of Art, Flushing, New York
* 1997 - Biennial International for Sculpture and Drawing, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
* 1997 - Biennial Exhibition, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
* 1996 - An Intelligent Rebellion, Women Artists of Pakistan, Cartwright Hall, Lister Park, Bradford, England; Rotherham Art Gallery, Rotherham, England
* 1996 - Houston Area Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas
* 1996 - Core Fellows Exhibition 1996, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
* 1994 - A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California

Awards and Fellowships

* 2006 - MacArthur Fellows Program
* 1999 - South Asian Women's Creative Collective Achievement Award
* 1998-99 - The Joan Mitchell Award
* 1997 - The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
* 1995-97 - Core Fellowship, Glassel School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
* 1993-95 - Graduate Fellowship Award, Rhode Island School of Design
* 1993 - Shakir Ali Award/Kipling award, (highest merit award) National College of Arts Lahore
* 1993 - Haji Sharif Award, (excellence in Miniature Painting) National College of Arts, Lahore
* 1992- Distinction Award, Thesis Project, National College of Arts, Lahore

External links

* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C11%5C18%5Cstory_18-11-2006_pg3_3 The Global Artist, Article in Pakistan's Daily Times]
* [http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/sikander/ Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips] from PBS series "" - Season 1 (2001).
* [http://www.shahziasikander.com Shahzia Sikander Official website]
* Sawhney, Hirsh (Mar. 2004). ' [http://www.hirshsawhney.com/shahzia.html 'Small things considered: Shahzia Sikander is big on miniatures"] . Time Out New York, Issue 443: March 25–April 1, 2004. Obtained October 18, 2006.

* Desai, Vishakha (Dec. 2000). [http://www.asiasource.org/arts/Viewpoints1.cfm "A Conversation with Shirin Neshat and Shahzia Sikander"] . AsiaSource. Obtained October 18, 2006.