Blessed Conquest (Objects from the Deep)

NAIZA KHAN

Born in Pakistan in 1968, Naiza Khan trained at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford, and the Wimbledon College of Art, London. Her work has been widely exhibited internationally, including at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2016), the Colombo Art Biennale (2016) and the Shanghai Biennale (2012), as well as in exhibitions, such as Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Asia Society, New York, USA (2009); Art Decoding Violence, XV Biennale Donna, Ferrara, Italy (2012); Desperately Seeking Paradise, Art Dubai, UAE (2008); Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain (2010); and the Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt (2010).

Khan was  selected for Pakistan's inaugural national pavilion in the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. She was also selected  for residencies at Gasworks, London, UK, and at the Rybon Art Center, Tehran, Iran. As a founding member and long-time coordinator of the Vasl Artists’ Collective in Karachi, Khan has worked to foster art in the city, and participated in a series of innovative art projects in partnership with other workshops in the region, such as the Khoj International Artists’ Association, New Delhi, India; the Britto Arts Trust, Dhaka, Bangladesh; the Sutra Art Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal; and the Theertha International Artists Collective, Colombo, Sri Lanka. In addition, she has curated three exhibitions of Pakistani contemporary art, including The Rising Tide: New Directions in Art from Pakistan, 1990–2010 at the Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi.