Shahzia Sikander talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.
Sikander, born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1969, was trained in the Indo-Persian tradition of manuscript painting and has used its forms, techniques and language as a springboard for a wide-ranging engagement with colonial and postcolonial history, feminism, gender and sexuality. , and with narratives about cultural identity and race.
of Shahzia Sikander the witness (2023) in Madison Square Park Havah… breath, air, life (2023)
Photo: Yasunori Matsui, courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy
Working in drawing, painting, animation, video, mosaic and most recently sculpture, he has created a body of work that combines preconceived images and forms with vivid and poetic effect. Technically elegant and conceptually profound, his works have an immediate impact, but reward a slow look with layered narratives, references and histories.
Shahzia Sikandar, Fragments of desire drift (1998)
© Shahzia Sikande
He talks about the early discovery of Michelangelo in Lahore, how Eva Hesse channeled the “soul” found in minimalism in her response to historical manuscript painting, reflects on the importance of her teenage experience in Mogadishu, Somalia, and talks about the terrible. the importance of poetry to his work, including translations of the Indian poet Mirza Ghalib by the American writer Adrienne Rich.
Shahzia Sikandar, Empire Follows Art: State of Agitation 8 (2020)
© Shahzia Sikander
He also gives an insight into his life in the studio, and answers our usual questions, including what artwork he would like to live with if he only had one.
- Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior, Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel, Venice, Italy, April 20 to October 20; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, USA, February 14-May 4, 2025; Cleveland Museum of Art, February 14 to June 8, 2025
- Shahzia Sikander: Havah… breath, air, lifeUniversity of Houston, Texas, USA, until October 31
- Entangled Pasts, 1768–present: art, colonialism and changeRoyal Academy of Arts, London, until 28 April 2024.
