Risham Syed is a Lahore-based artist who uses painting, as well as other mediums to explore questions of history, sociology, and politics. Living in any big metropolis like Lahore, one continuously experiences a momentous ‘urban transition’, which has become so very tangible over these past few years. Her native city plays the main role in her work, as do related inquiries into what the colonial history of the region has meant to today’s culture. She explores these questions using her paintings as pieces of a greater, often global context through installation and use of objects with social reference and connotation.
Risham Syed
Her use of fabric, embroidery, found objects, along with her painting speaks about her connection with the personal, as well as historical, weaving in history with the present moment.
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Risham Syed CV with Bibliography 2016 80.33 KB
Risham Syed is currently Heading the Department of Visual Arts and teaching as an Associate Professor at the School of Visual Arts and Design at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan.
Education
1996
MA Royal College of Art, London, UK
1993
BFA Honours (Painting), National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
1989
BA Kinnaird College, Lahore, Pakistan
Awards and Scholarships
2013
Shortlisted for Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2013
2012
ABRAAJ Capital Art Prize
1996
Stephenson Harwood Award, Degree Show, RCA, London
1994-96
Charles Wallace Trust Scholarship, UK
1995
Cité International des Arts, Paris, France
1989-3
Merit Scholarship, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
Solo Shows
2016
‘Look At The City From here: Through the Rear View Mirror and the Looking-glass’ Gandhara Art Space, Karachi.
2016
Solo Booth with Project 88, Art Dubai
2014
‘Kaal Pakhan (Blackbirding)’, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2014
Solo Project with Project 88 at Dhaka Art Summit
2013
‘Metropolyptical: A Tale of a City’, Project 88, Mumbai
2010
‘Lahore 2010’, Rohtas Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2010
‘And the Rest is History’, Talwar Gallery, NY, U.S.A.
2008
Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017-18
Beyond Borders, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK.
2017
Art Basel, Hong Kong
2016-17
Digging Deep-Crossing Far, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin
2015-16
The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
This Night-Bitten Dawn, 24 Jor Bagh, New Delhi
2015
Art_Textile, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, UK.
Frieze Art Fair, London
2014
‘Stills of Peace’, Cathedral at Atri, Italy
Group Show, Islamabad Literary Festival, Islamabad
‘Stet’, Lahore Literary Festival, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore
2013
Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Hangzhou, China
‘Women of Substance’, Rohtas Gallery, Lahore
Art Basel, Hong Kong
2012
‘Art Dubai’, ABRAAJ Capital Art Prize, Dubai
‘Mein’, Koel Gallery, Karachi
2010-11
‘The Rising Tide’, Mohatta Palace, Karachi
Grey Noise, Art Dubai, Dubai
Resemble-Reasseble’, Pakistani Art Collection at Devi Foundation, Gurgaon,
India
2009
‘Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress, Politics and Identity in Pakistani Art’, Talwar Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
‘Celebrating Karachi’, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
Group Show, Re-opening of Canvas Gallery, Karachi
‘Conversations 1’, Elementa Gallery, Dubai
Launch Show, Grey Noise, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore
2007
‘Landscape’, National Gallery of Art,Islamabad, Pakistan
‘Outside the Cube’, National Gallery of Art, Islamabad, Pakistan
‘Take Away’, Zahoor- ul-Akhlaq Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2005
‘58 Years of Pakistani Art’, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2004
‘Playing With a Loaded Gun’, Kunsthalle Fridericianum,Kassel,Germany & Apexart, NY
2002
‘Threads, Dreams and Desires’, Harris Museum,Preston, U.K
Fukuoka Triennale, Museum of Asian Art, Fukuoka, Japan
‘Painting Over The Lines’, Indo Centre of Art & Culture, New York, USA
2001
‘Maneuvering Miniature’, IIC Gallery, New Delhi and Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai.
Group Show, British Council,Lahore, Pakistan
1998
‘Vague Terrains’, Rouen, France and Herbert Read Kent Institute, UK
‘Mappings: Shared Histories’,Traveling Exhibition, Delhi, Mumbai & Lahore
1997
‘Patterning’, NCA Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Drawing’, NCA Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Scope VII’, Faculty NCA show, NCA Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Women Artists Show, Arts Council, Lahore, Pakistan
National Exhibition, Arts Council, Lahore, Pakistan
1996
National Exhibition, Arts Council, Lahore,Pakistan
Group Show, Corum Gallery,London, United Kingdom
‘Figure it out’, Gallery 7, Hong Kong
MA (Painting) Degree Show,Royal College of Art, London, UK
1995
Group Show, Queen Elizabeth Conference Hall, London, UK
‘Interim Show’, Barbican Center, Concourse Gallery, London, UK
Group Show, Mermaid Theatre Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1994
National Exhibition, Islamabad, Pakistan
Convocation Show, National College of Art, Lahore, Pakistan
Group Show, National Women’s Conference, Lahore, Pakistan
Group Show, Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan