Lot 61: AISHA KHALID

AISHA KHALID PAKISTANI B.1972 INFINITE JUSTICE 2001 textile and embroidery 103 x 130 cm / 40.55 x 40.55"

Some recent solo exhibitions
Corvi-Mora, London 2010 (with Imran Qureshi)
Pump House Gallery, London 2008, 'Ongoing conversation'
Hong Kong Art Center, 2007, 'Portraits & vortexes'
Anant Gallery, New Delhi 2006
Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi 2006
Rohtas II, Gallery, Lahore 2003

Some recent group exhibitions
Biennale di Venezia, Venice 2009, 'East-West Divan. Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan'
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna 2009, 'Die Macht des Ornaments'
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco 2006, 'Karkhana: A contemporary collaboration'
Al-Hamra Art Gallery, Lahore 2005, 'One to One'
Ise Cultural Foundation Gallery, New York 2004, 'Cover Girl: The Female Body and Islam in Contemporary Art'

Selected publications
Salima Hahimi, Aïsha Khalid, 2001-2002, [s.l.]: s.n.] 2003
Jacques Rangasamy [et al.], ArtSouthAsia, Manchester: Shisa 2002

Selected public and corporate collections
Harris Museum, Preston, UK • Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK • World Bank, Washington, US • Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, AU • Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, JP

donated by the artist

Next to working with contemporary media, Aïsha Khalid makes exquisite, small-scale paintings on wasli paper. Being part of a younger generation of artists from Pakistan, Khalid has positively responded to the highly skilled, labour-intensive tradition of Mughal miniature painting, and rather than rejecting it, has revitalized the medium with contemporary issues, ideas and subject matter. The ornate, decorative surface of her paintings belie a socio-political content; cultural expectations and stereotyping, oppression of women (including those in Western society) and global politics following the aftermath of 9/11. The formal and aesthetic qualities of the historical miniature are also explored in her practice, with respect for tradition as well as its potential for contemporary critical enquiry, self-expression and subversion.

Aïsha Khalid was resident artist at the Rijksakademie in 2001-2002.