Shahzia Sikander’s Impressive Exhibit ‘Extraordinary Realities’ in New York
On September 12, artist Shahzia Sikander guided APF members through her current exhibit "Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities" at the Morgan Library in New York City.
The exhibit tracks the first 15 years of Sikander's career merging traditional miniaturist painting with contemporary art. Through a series of paintings spanning her experiences in Pakistan, Texas, and New York, Sikander explores womanhood, race relations, cultural identity, and the impact of global events such as the September 11 attacks.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Shahzia Sikander (b. 1969) gained international recognition in the 1990s for her pioneering role in bringing painting traditions from South and Central Asia into dialogue with contemporary practices. Her work interrogates cultural identity, racial narratives, colonial and postcolonial histories, and issues of gender and sexuality. Through multivalent narratives layered across time, geography, and tradition, she shatters established hierarchies, norms, and stereotypes, using her imagination and playfulness to conjure extraordinary realities.
This exhibition explores the first fifteen years of Sikander’s career, from her formal training in manuscript painting as a student at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, where she enrolled in 1987, to her early years in the United States. Sikander moved to Providence in 1993 to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. She then lived in Houston for two years before settling in New York in 1997. Her work during this period reflects a new openness in the United States toward artists working outside of commonly accepted models as well as a dramatic shift in the perception of Muslims following the events of 9/11. The potent vocabulary of Sikander’s early work continues to permeate her oeuvre today, and the subjects she confronted then have only become more relevant to contemporary discourse.
Says Waqas Jawaid: "For me—a Pakistani American designer and feminist—Shahzia Sikander is a role model and beacon of inspiration. It's mesmerizing to see in her work depictions of the feminine, racialized, colonized person taking up space and defining their own horizons, exploring realms that are mystical, supernatural, grotesque, and sublime. Her work is infused with a spirit of experimentation, playing with questions of transparency relevant to us today: how much of yourself are you willing or able to showcase to the world?" – American Pakistan Foundation
