{{Short description|Pakistani-American artist}} {{promotional|date=June 2023}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Shahzia Sikander | image = | alt = Shahzia Sikander | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1969}} | birth_place = Lahore, Pakistan | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | alma_mater = National College of Arts Lahore, Rhode Island School of Design | known_for = Visual art, Contemporary art | movement = | awards = MacArthur Fellowship | patrons = | website = http://www.shahziasikander.com/ | image_size = | training = | notable_works = }}
'''Shahzia Sikander''' (born 1969) is a Pakistani-American visual artist. Sikander works across a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, printmaking, animation, installation, performance and video. Sikander currently lives and works in New York City.
==Education== Sikander studied at the National College of Arts Lahore in Pakistan, where she was taught the traditional discipline of Indo-Persian miniature painting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/pakistani-art-school-trains-the-next-generation-of-miniaturists/|title=Pakistani Art School Trains the Next Generation of Miniaturists|last=Jennifer|first=Noémie|date=November 23, 2015|website=Creators|publisher=Vice|language=en-us|access-date=July 9, 2017}}</ref> She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1991.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.villanieditions.com/shahzia-sikander/|title=Shahzia Sikander, Pakistani-American, born 1969|work=Diane Villani Editions|access-date=July 9, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> Sikander moved to the United States and attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), earning a Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://risdmuseum.org/events/1291_2016_10_19_gail_silver_memorial_lecture_shahzia_sikander|title=Events: Gail Silver Memorial Lecture, Shahzia Sikander|date=October 1, 2016|website=RISD Museum|publisher=Rhode Island School of Design|access-date=October 17, 2016}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://academicaffairs.risd.edu/2014/04/tlad-artists-talk-shahzia-sikander/|title=TLAD Artist's Talk: Shahzia Sikander|website=RISD Academic Affairs|date=April 9, 2014 |publisher=Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)|access-date=December 30, 2018}}</ref>
==Early work== {{Blockquote|text=Initially I explored the tension between illustration and fine art when I first encountered miniature painting in my late teens. Championing the formal aspects of the Indo-Persian miniature-painting genre has often been at the core of my practice.|sign=Shahzia Sikander|source=<ref>{{cite web|last=Gupta|first=Anjali|title=A Conversation with Shahzia Sikander|url=http://www.lindapacefoundation.org/Shahzia-Sikander-interview.php|work=Interview|publisher=Linda Pace Foundation|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=July 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731093703/http://www.lindapacefoundation.org/Shahzia-Sikander-interview.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
As an undergraduate student in Lahore, Sikander studied the techniques of Persian and Mughal Indo-Persian manuscript painting, often integrating traditional forms of Mughal (Islamic) and Rajput (Hindu) styles and culture.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shahzia Sikander|url=http://www.crownpoint.com/artists/206/about-artist|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015175932/http://www.crownpoint.com/artists/206/about-artist|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 15, 2008|work=About the Artist|publisher=Crown Point Press|access-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref> The traditional form of miniature painting requires equal measures of discipline, gesture and expression in order to execute a careful layering of color and detail. Compositionally, miniature paintings exhibit an extensive display of colorful imagery, including human forms, animals, patterns, shapes, dots and connecting lines. Miniature paintings often engage in contextual complexities such as religious narrative, scenes of battles and court life. Sikander has integrated the techniques and forms of traditional miniature painting, relying on the layering of images and metaphor to drive her work. Her forms and figures exhibit a quality of continual morphing as transparent imagery is layered, providing a complexity with endless shifts in perception. Sikander's complex compositions "dismantle hierarchical assumptions and subverts the very notion of a singular, fixed identity of figures and forms."<ref>{{cite web|last=Stich|first=Sidra|title=Shahzia Sikander @SFAI|url=http://www.squarecylinder.com/2011/06/shihazia-sikander-sfai/|work=Review|publisher=Square Cylinder.com|access-date=October 14, 2012|date=June 1, 2011}}</ref>
''The Scroll'', 1992, is a semi-autobiographical manuscript painting. ''The Scroll'' Sikander's thesis project at the National College of Arts, includes formal elements of historical manuscript painting.<ref name="Qureshi">Qureshi, Bilal. [https://www.npr.org/2015/10/02/445291163/breaking-the-mold-artists-modern-miniatures-remix-islamic-art "Breaking The Mold: Artist's Modern Miniatures Remix Islamic Art."], NPR, Retrieved December 27, 2018.</ref> ''The Scroll'' portrays scenes of everyday contemporary Pakistani life, including rituals that explore cultural and geographic traditions.<ref name="Qureshi"/> Many hues, patterns and incidents appear in ''The Scroll'', identifying Sikander's attention to small detail, muted color palettes, and understanding of architectural elements juxtaposed with the intimacies of domestic culture.<ref name="Qureshi"/> The use of perspective is increasingly noticeable, exhibiting a linear movement of composition.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kunitz|first=Daniel|title=Exhibition note: Daniel Kunitz on "Inheriting Cubism: The Impact of Cubism on American Art," at Hollis Taggert Galleries & Shahzia Sikander in "Conversations with Traditions" at Asia Society|journal=New Criterion|date=February 2002|volume=20|issue=6|pages=40|access-date=April 23, 2014|url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/exhibitionnote-kunitz-2-2034}}</ref> Common concerns of economics, imperialism, colonialism, sexualism and identity are also apparent in Sikander's early paintings. ''The Scroll'' launched what has come to be called the neo-miniature.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=Whitney|title=Women, Art and Society|year=2007|publisher=Thames & Hudson Inc.|location=New York|isbn=978-0-500-20393-4|pages=446}}</ref>
Sikander's attention to detail and formalism assist in the contextualization of her miniature paintings, stemming from an interest in labor, process and memory. Earlier paintings also include elements of Gopi, or the cowherd female devotees and lovers of the deity Krishna in Hindu mythology, while figures of men are depicted as "turbaned warriors."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Leffingwell|first=Edward|author-link=Edward Leffingwell|title=Shahzia Sikander at Brent Sikkema|journal=Art in America|date=January 14, 2006|volume=94|issue=1|pages=119–120}}</ref> The Gopi is portrayed in Sikander's early miniature paintings to "locate visual and symbolic forms within miniature painting that have the potential to generate multiple meanings."<ref>{{cite book|last=Vartanian|first=Ivan|title=Art Work: Seeing Inside the Creative Process|year=2011|publisher=Goliga Books, Inc.|location=680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107|isbn=978-0-8118-7128-0|pages=53|editor=Justine Parker}}</ref> Shahzia Sikander's most significant use of Gopi can be seen in a series of drawings and digital animation from 2003, titled ''Spinn''. In the animation, the characters multiply and their hair separates from their bodies, creating an abstracted form of hair silhouettes. Sikander explores the relationship between the present and the past, including the richness of multicultural identities. Appropriations for Sikander function to move Indo-Persian artistic traditions into the future. The extraction and abstraction of traditional motifs create endless shifts in perception that challenge the linearity of any colonial or postcolonial narrative. Integrated with both personal and social histories, her work invites multiple meanings, operating in a state of constant flux and transition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shahzia Sikander|url=http://www.hosfeltgallery.com/index.php?p=artists&a=Shahzia%20Sikander|work=Biography/ Press|publisher=Hostfelt Gallery|access-date=June 10, 2015|archive-date=October 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021124945/http://www.hosfeltgallery.com/index.php?p=artists&a=Shahzia%20Sikander|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Digital animation== {{Blockquote|text=Drawing is a fundamental element of my process, a basic tool for exploration. I construct most of my work, including patterns of thinking, via drawing. Ideas housed on paper are often put into motion in the video animations, creating a form of disruption as a means to engage. I also stayed true to layering, a concept running throughout my practice. For the making of video animations, I went back to the fundamental use of ink drawings, crafting form out of color and gouache, scanning and threading them via movement. The breakdown of form also gives a stationary drawing the illusion of transformation, which as a topic has given me a lot of space to experiment and imagine throughout my work.|sign=Shahzia Sikander|source=<ref name="Gupta">{{cite web|url=http://www.lindapacefoundation.org/Shahzia-Sikander-interview.php|title=A Conversation with Shahzia Sikander|last=Gupta|first=Anjali|publisher=Linda Pace Foundation|work=Interview|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=July 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731093703/http://www.lindapacefoundation.org/Shahzia-Sikander-interview.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
Similarly to her miniature paintings, Sikander relies on the process of layering to create digital animation. Formal elements of technique, layering and movement of the digital animations help to unhinge the "absolute of contrasts such as Western/non-Western, past/present, miniature/scale." Sikander explains her appreciation for the process of layering in digital animation, allowing the narrative to remain suspended and open for reinterpretation. Sikander is very patient with her work, some taking months, even years to finish. Sikander states; "The purpose is to point out, and not necessarily define. I find this attitude a useful way to navigate the complex and often deeply rooted cultural and sociopolitical stances that envelop us twenty-four hours and day, seven days a week."<ref>{{cite book|last=Vartanian|first=Ivan|title=Art Work: Seeing Inside the Creative Process|year=2011|publisher=Goliga Books, Inc.|location=680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107|isbn=978-0-8118-7128-0|pages=59|editor=Justine Parker}}</ref>
==Performance art and installations== {{Blockquote|text=I think context, location matters a lot. Because location obviously in my situation, it's the space in which the work is going to be exhibited. And since some of the work I do is created onsite, it requires a different type of space, versus the smaller drawings or more subject-oriented work. So that the context becomes important.|sign=Shahzia Sikander|source=<ref>{{cite web|title=Shahzia Sikander: Gods, Griffins and Cowboy Boots|url=http://www.moma.org/interactives/redstudio/interviews/shahzia/shahzia.html|work=Interview|publisher=MOMA: Red Studio|access-date=10 June 2015}}</ref>}}
As a female Muslim artist, Shahzia Sikander often had to endure stereotyping among her community. The veil (a scarf often worn by Muslim women) covers the hair and neck and is symbolic of both religion and womanhood. Sikander's miniature paintings often refer to the veil, exploring her own religious history and cultural identity. In a performance piece, Sikander wore an elaborate lace veil for several weeks while documenting the reaction of her peers. Sikander explains that the veil gave her an ultimate sense of security, stating that, "It was wonderful to not have people see my facial or body language, and at the same time be in control and know that they did not know I was acting, and checking their reaction."<ref>{{cite web |last=Jepsen |first=Cara |date=March 5, 1998 |title=On Exhibit: Shahzia Sikander Makes Herself Clear |url=https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/on-exhibit-shahzia-sikander-makes-herself-clear/ |access-date=June 10, 2015 |publisher=The Chicago Reader}}</ref>
Imagery of the traditional Muslim veil occur throughout Sikander's compositions. Her larger works are reminiscent of a centuries-old Indian practice in which women regularly paint figures all over the walls and floors of their houses, using "whole body" gestural movements. Sikander uses large drawings as the basis for her large-scale installations, often requiring months to complete. ''Nemesis'', a site-specific installation at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, features a jewel-like paintings as small as six by eight inches and two animations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Opener 6: Shahzia Sikander- Nemesis |url=http://tang.skidmore.edu/index.php/calendars/view/288/tag:1/year:2004|publisher=Tang Museum |access-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref> Sikander was commissioned to create two large public art pieces for Princeton University, which were revealed in 2017. One is ''Quintuplet Effect,'' a painting on layered glass which can be seen in the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building. The other is ''Ecstasy as Sublime, Heart as Vector,'' a sixty-six-foot-tall mosaic in the Louis A. Simpson International Building.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New Commission by Internationally Acclaimed Artist Shahzia Sikander at Princeton University {{!}} Princeton University Art Museum|url=https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/about/press-room/press-release/new-commission-internationally-acclaimed-artist-shahzia-sikander|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=artmuseum.princeton.edu|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125040648/https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/about/press-room/press-release/new-commission-internationally-acclaimed-artist-shahzia-sikander|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=November 2020}}
Sikander places a strong emphasis on feminist messaging in her artwork, often using it as an avenue to initiate discussions surrounding religion and politics. As a Muslim woman living in New York in the midst of the aftermath of 9/11, Sikander made note of the growing interest in Middle Eastern women and islam in the west through her art. In ''Pleasure Pillars'', Sikander makes a clear reference to the destruction of the twin towers in 2001 as the women in the painting are depicted shooting beams and creating explosions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pleasure Pillars |url=https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/shahzia-sikander/pleasure-pillars |website=The Morgan Library and Museum|date=June 4, 2021 }}</ref> Throughout her portfolio, she depicts women with incomplete bodies and mythological features, such as horns. This can also be seen in her mural, ''The Perennial Gaze,'' in which the woman is embraced by a gold, androgynous, headless body. Sikander utilizes the human body to push the boundaries between what is praised as masculine and feminine, highlighting the sensual qualities of the female form and how it is often overshadowed.
In 2023, Sikander was commissioned to create a statue for Madison Square in New York. In this installation, a statue of a golden armless floating woman with ram horns is held up by a skirt covered in a mosaic. This installation, “''Havah ... .to breathe air, life,”'' received a mixture of praise and criticism from viewers as the United States continues to be in a legislative battle on women’s reproductive rights, specifically abortion rights. This sculpture is interpreted to be in conversation to female reproductive rights from the title. Havah has two meanings, in Urdu it translates to air or Eve. Coupled with the allusions of the woman’s body connected to nature, many viewers interpret the sculpture in relation to female reproduction as the female body is understood as the vessel of human life. In an interview Sikander refers to Eve as “''the first law breaker,”''<ref name="YouTube_vhLBVQWiJ5k">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLBVQWiJ5k |title=Shahzia Sikander: Melting Boundaries {{!}} Art21 "Extended Play" |website=YouTube|date=May 17, 2023 }}</ref> though she shares no clear political affiliation or opinions on the topic in particular. Rather, Sikander created the sculpture to start a conversation and have the meaning reveal itself, as she explains she “''thrive[es] on hearing what happens over time''.”<ref name="YouTube_vhLBVQWiJ5k"/> The sculpture, ''Witness'', was later relocated to the University of Houston, where it drew criticism from the anti-abortion Christian group Texas Right to Life.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/shahzia-sikander-witness-statue-beheaded-university-of-houston-1234711711/|author=Karen K. Ho|date=July 9, 2024|title=Shahzia Sikander Sculpture Beheaded at the University of Houston|work=ART News}}</ref> Sikander stated that viewers may have "misread the symbolism behind her artwork, which includes hornlike braids, tentacle arms and a lace collar. Her intention was not specifically to comment on abortion or Supreme Court justices, but rather to create a broader message about a woman’s power in the justice system". In July 2024, the sculpture was vandalized and beheaded.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/09/arts/design/shahzia-sikander-statue-vandalized-university-of-houston.html|author=Zachary Small|date=July 9, 2024|title=Statue Honoring Women and Justice Vandalized at University of Houston|work=New York Times}}</ref>
==Exhibitions== ===Solo exhibitions=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |+Select solo exhibitions !Year !Name !Location !Type !Notes |- |1993 | |Pakistan Embassy, Washington, D.C., United States |Government gallery |<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/shahzia-sikander/biography|title=Shahzia Sikander Biography|website=artnet.com|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |1996 |Art Celebration 96: Shahzia Sikander |Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |1996 |Knock Knock Who's There? Mithilia, Mithilia Who? |Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas, United States |Non-profit gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |1997 |A Kind of Slight and Pleasing Dislocation |Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, California, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |1997 |Murals and Miniatures |Deitch Projects, New York, New York, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lamodern.com/2014/11/just-in-a-seminal-watercolor-by-shahzia-sikander/|title=Just In: A Seminal Watercolor by Shahzia Sikander|date=November 20, 2014|website=Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)|access-date=December 26, 2018|archive-date=December 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227181411/https://lamodern.com/2014/11/just-in-a-seminal-watercolor-by-shahzia-sikander/|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |1998 |Shahzia Sikander: Drawings and Miniatures |Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, United States |Museum |<ref name=":3" /> |- |1998 |Shahzia Sikander |The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States |College gallery |<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://landmarks.utexas.edu/video-art/shahzia-sikander|title=Shahzia Sikander|date=August 6, 2018|website=LANDMARKS|publisher=University of Texas, College of Fine Arts|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |1999 |Directions: Shahzia Sikander |Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., United States |Museum |<ref name=":1" /> |- |2000 |Shahzia Sikander: Acts of Balance |Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/shahziasikandera1626sika|title=Shahzia Sikander: Acts of Balance|date=2000|publisher=Whitney Museum of American Art|others=Frances Mulhall Achilles Library Whitney Museum of American Art|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/09/arts/art-in-review-shahzia-sikander.html|title=Art in Review – Shahzia Sikander|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=June 9, 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 27, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://asiasociety.org/viewpoints-conversation-shirin-neshat-and-shahzia-sikander|title=Viewpoints: A Conversation with Shirin Neshat and Shahzia Sikander|website=Asia Society|date=July 25, 2017 |language=en|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2001 |Intimacy |ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas, United States |Non-profit gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |2003 |SpiNN |Brent Sikkema, New York, New York, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |2003 |Drawing to Drawing |Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, California, United States |Gallery | |- |2004 |Contemporary Links: Shahzia Sikander |San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, United States |Museum | |- |2004 |Shahzia Sikander: Flip Flop |San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, United States |Museum |This was a three-part installation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/9678/Installation-by-Shahzia-br--Sikander-at-SDMA#.XCSIEc9KjOQ|title=Installation by Shahzia Sikander at SDMA|website=artdaily.com|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2004–2005 |Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis |Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States |Museum |organized by Ian Berry and Jessica Hough<ref name=":2" /> |- |2004 |Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis |The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, United States |Museum |<ref name=":2">[https://tang.skidmore.edu/exhibitions/163-opener-6-br-shahzia-sikander-nemesis "Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis"], Tang Museum, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2005–2006 |Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis |Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, Florida, United States |Museum |<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pamm.org/exhibitions/new-work-shazia-sikander-nemesis|title=New Work: Shazia Sikander - Nemesis|website=www.pamm.org|access-date=December 27, 2018|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310224251/https://www.pamm.org/exhibitions/new-work-shazia-sikander-nemesis|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |2005 |Dissonance to Detour |Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California, United States |College gallery | |- |2005 |51 Ways of Looking |Brent Sikkema New York, New York, United States |Gallery | |- |2005 |Shahzia Sikander: New Work |Sikkema Jenkins & Co. New York, New York, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |2006 |Shahzia Sikander: Solo Exhibition |The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |Museum |<ref>[http://www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/Exhibitions/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?ExhibitionId=d5ecc407-a772-4651-a78a-3c2979a024e8 "Shahzia Sikander"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917172545/http://www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/Exhibitions/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?ExhibitionId=d5ecc407-a772-4651-a78a-3c2979a024e8 |date=September 17, 2019 }}, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2007 |Shahzia Sikander |Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland |Museum |<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/19709/Shahzia-Sikander-at-the-Irish-Museum-of-Modern-Art#.XCSDd89KjOQ|title=Shahzia Sikander at the Irish Museum of Modern Art|date=March 27, 2007|website=artdaily.com|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2007–2008 |Shahzia Sikander |Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (MCA), Australia |Museum |<ref>[https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/454-shahzia-sikander/ "Shahzia Sikander"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227133200/https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/454-shahzia-sikander/ |date=December 27, 2018 }}, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2008 |Intimate Ambivalence |IKON Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom |Gallery | |- |2009 |Stalemate |Sikkema Jenkins & Co. New York, New York, United States |Gallery |<ref name=":3" /> |- |2009 |Shahzia Sikander Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection |Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. New York, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>[https://www.si.edu/exhibitions/shahzia-sikander-selects-works-from-the-permanent-collection-2951 "Shahzia Sikander Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection"], Smithsonian Institution, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2009 |Shahzia Sikander: 'I am also not my own enemy' |Pilar Corrias, London, United Kingdom |Gallery |<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/shahzia-sikander-i-am-also-not-my-own-enemy|title=Shahzia Sikander 'I am also not my own enemy' - Exhibition at Pilar Corrias in London|website=ArtRabbit|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2011 |Shahzia Sikander: The Exploding Company Man and Other Abstractions |Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California, United States |College gallery |Curated by Hou Hanru<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35655/shahzia-sikander-s-the-exploding-company-man-and-other-abstractions/|title=Shahzia Sikander's The exploding company man and other abstractions - Announcements|date=April 22, 2011|website=www.e-flux.com|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":0">[https://massart.edu/exhibitions/galleries/shahzia-sikander-exploding-company-man-and-other-abstractions "Exploding Company Man and Other Abstractions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410052901/https://massart.edu/exhibitions/galleries/shahzia-sikander-exploding-company-man-and-other-abstractions |date=April 10, 2019 }}, MassMoCA, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2011 |Shahzia Sikander: The Exploding Company Man and Other Abstractions |Bakalar & Paine Galleries, MassArt, Boston, Massachusetts, United States |College gallery |Curated by Hou Hanru<ref name=":0" /> |- |2014 |Shahzia Sikander: Parallax |Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Umea, Sweden |College gallery |"Shahzia Sikander: Parallax" was first shown at this location, a multichannel video animation with original score.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/5824065|title = Stormaktskonflikter i miniformat - Kulturnytt i P1| newspaper=Sveriges Radio | date=March 31, 2014 | last1=Lantto | first1=Freja }}</ref> |- |2015 |Shahzia Sikander: Parallax |Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain |Museum |a multichannel video animation with original score<ref>[https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/shahzia-sikander-parallax "Shahzia Sikander, Parallax"], Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2016 |Shahzia Sikander: Ecstasy As Sublime, Heart As Vector |MAXXI, Rome, Italy |Museum |<ref>[https://www.maxxi.art/en/events/shahzia-sikander-ecstasy-as-sublime-heart-as-vector/ "Shahzia Sikander: Ecstasy as Sublime, Heart as Vector"], MAXXI Museum, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2021 |Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities |Morgan Library & Museum, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>{{cite web |last1=Angeleti |first1=Gabriella |title=Shahzia Sikander, creator of feminist miniatures, will have a major show at The Morgan in New York |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/preview/shahzia-sikander-artist-of-feminist-miniatures-will-have-a-major-show-at-the-morgan-in-new-york |website=www.theartnewspaper.com |access-date=May 18, 2021 |language=en |date=March 16, 2021}}</ref> |- |2021-2022 |Shahzia Sikander: Unbound |Jesus College West Court Gallery, Cambridge, United Kingdom |Museum |<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/12/09/shahzia-sikander-jesus-college-cambridge-restitution-colonial-loot | website=www.theartnewspaper.com | access-date=May 9, 2022 | language=en | date=September 15, 2021| title=At a Cambridge University college wrestling with its imperial past, Shahzia Sikander's show offers new ideas on restitution }}</ref> |}
===Group exhibitions=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |+Select group exhibitions !Year !Name !Location !Type !Notes |- |1994 |A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan |Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, United States |Museum |<ref name=":3" /> |- |2002 |time/frame |Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States |College museum |<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blantonmuseum.org/exhibition/timeframe/|title=time/frame|website=Blanton Museum of Art|language=en-US|access-date=December 27, 2018|archive-date=December 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227181536/https://blantonmuseum.org/exhibition/timeframe/|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |2002 |Drawing Now: Eight Propositions |Museum of Modern Art, Queens, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>[https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/149 "Drawing Now: Eight Propositions"], MoMA, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2005 |Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now |Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>[https://queensmuseum.org/2015/11/fatal-love-south-asian-american-art-now "Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now"], Queens Museum of Art, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2006 |Dirty Yoga: The Fifth Taipei Biennial |Taipei Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan |Biennial |<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/dirty-yoga-the-fifth-taipei-biennial-12671|title="Dirty Yoga: The Fifth Taipei Biennial" at Taipei Fine Arts Museum|website=Artforum.com|date=January 18, 2007 |language=en-US|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2007 |Global Feminisms |Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, United States |College museum |Feminist art work from 1990 and onward, created in various art media including sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, video, installation, and performance.<ref>[https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/global_feminisms "Global Feminisms"], Brooklyn Museum, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/arts/design/23glob.html|title=Global Feminisms - Art - Review|last=Smith|first=Roberta|date=March 23, 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 27, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |- |2007 |Global Feminisms |Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States |College Museum |<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wellesley.edu/davismuseum/artwork/node/36756|title=Global Feminisms|website=Wellesley College|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref> |- |2007 |Not For Sale |MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>[https://momaps1.org/exhibitions/view/135 "Not for Sale"], MoMA PS1, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2008 |Order. Desire. Light: An Exhibition of Contemporary Drawings |Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland |Museum |<ref>[https://imma.ie/whats-on/order-desire-light-an-exhibition-of-contemporary-drawings/ "Order. Desire. Light."], Irish Museum of Modern Art, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2009 |Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, |Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, New York, United States |Museum |<ref>[https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/311 "Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Foundation"], Museum of Modern Art, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> |- |2009 |Moving Perspectives: Shahzia Sikander and Sun Xun |Sackler Gallery, The Smithsonian, Washington D.C., United States |Museum |''<ref>[https://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Moving-Perspectives-Shahzia-SikanderXun-4589 "Moving Perspectives: Shahzia Sikander and Sun Xun"], Smithsonian Institution, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref>'' |}
==Awards and fellowships==
* 1995-1997- Core Fellowship, Glassel School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston<ref name="SKNY">{{Cite web|url=http://www.skny.com/attachment/en/56d5695ecfaf342a038b4568/TextOneColumnWithFile/587948a4c4c13898738b4567|title=Shahzia Sikander CV from Sean Kelly Gallery Website}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 1997- The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award<ref name=":4" /> * 1998- The Joan Mitchell Award<ref>[http://joanmitchellfoundation.org/artist-programs/artist-grants/painter-sculptors/1998 "Joan Mitchell Foundation - Painters & Sculptors Program"], Joan Mitchell Award, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> * 1999- South Asian Women's Creative Collective Achievement Award<ref name="SKNY"/>{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 2003- Commendation Award, Mayor's Office, City of New York<ref name="SKNY"/>{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 2005- Jennifer Howard Coleman Distinguished Lectureship and Residency<ref name="SKNY"/>{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 2005- Tamgha-e-imtiaz, National Medal of Honor, Government of Pakistan<ref name=":4" /> * 2006- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship<ref>[https://www.macfound.org/fellows/790/ "MacArthur Foundation - Shahzia Sikander"], MacArthur Foundation, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> * 2006- Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum<ref name=":4" /> * 2008- Performing and Visual Arts Achiever of the Year award presented by the South Asian Excellence Awards, 2008<ref name="SKNY" />{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 2009- Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Creative Arts Fellowship<ref name="SKNY" />{{Better source needed|date=December 2018}} * 2012- U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts, Art in Embassies (AIE), United States State Department<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/11/201172.htm "Art World To Celebrate U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies' 50th Anniversary"], U.S. Department of State, Retrieved December 26, 2018.</ref> * 2022- Fukuoka Prize Arts and Culture Prize<ref>{{cite web | url=https://fukuoka-prize.org/en/laureates/detail/caf79562-42fe-420c-a9ce-757e3339b065 | title=Shahzia SIKANDER }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *[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] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20011107171643/http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/sikander/ Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips] from PBS series ''Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century'' - Season 1 (2001). * [http://www.shahziasikander.com Shahzia Sikander official website], shahziasikander.com. Accessed February 6, 2024. * Sawhney, Hirsh (Mar. 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20061112060248/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. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045621/http://kadist.org/en/people/shahzia-sikander Shahzia Sikander] at Kadist Art Foundation * Desai, Vishakha (Dec. 2000). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20061018204045/http://asiasource.org/arts/Viewpoints1.cfm A Conversation] with Shirin Neshat and Shahzia Sikander''. AsiaSource. Obtained October 18, 2006. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sikander, Shahzia}} Category:Pakistani contemporary artists Category:Pakistani painters Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Pakistani emigrants to the United States Category:Artists from New York City Category:Artists from Lahore Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:National College of Arts alumni Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni Category:American artists of Pakistani descent Category:Pakistani women artists Category:21st-century American women painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:Pakistani artists Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States