FAIZA BUTT (b.1973) is a graduate of the National College of Art (NCA), Lahore and the Slade School of Art, London. In 2013 Faiza participated in the 55th Venice Biennale. In 2015 she had her first mid-career survey, 'Paracosm' at the New art exchange in Nottingham, which later travelled to The Art Exchange, University of Essex and The Attenborough Art Centre, University of Leicester, UK. Her recent notable exhibitions include 'Brave New World', Grosvenor Gallery, London, UK; 'The Unbreakable Rope: An Exploration of Sexuality in Islam', Free Word Centre, London, UK; Three Women Show, at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, India, which served as a step towards improving Indo Pakistani relations through cultural connections; 'Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan', Asia Society, New York, USA. Faiza has designed covers for award winning author, H.M Naqvi's first and second books. Her works are in numerous international collections including the British Museum UK; Victoria and Albert Museum UK; Kiran Nadar Museum of art, New Delhi, India; DeviArt Foundation, New Delhi, India. She lives and works in London.
"My practice focuses on the male image. The idea is to subvert the history of the male gaze with reference to the female nude. I draw from mass media images of masculinity (e.g. in sports photography, cinema and politics), to create moments of reflection within my ornately rendered drawings." -FB
ALI KAZIM (b.1979) is a graduate of the NCA, Lahore and the Slade School of Art, London. In 2020 his work was exhibited at 'Between the Sun and the Moon', Lahore Beinnale 02, curated by Sheikha Hoor al Qasimi. In the summer of 2019, Kazim was the first ever artist in residence at the Classical Art Research Centre at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He was part of the 'The Gandhara Connections' project, a three-year initiative supported by the Bagri Foundation to stimulate new insights into Gandharan art and its links to Greece and Rome. His Mid-career survey was in 2008 at Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford, UK and in 2007 at VM Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan. He has exhibited his works at the Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Brisbane, Australia in 2018 as well as the Karachi Biennale 01 and 02 in 2017 and 2019. His works are in prominent private and public collections namely that of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Asia Pacific Museum, USA; British Museum, London, UK; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Queensland Art Gallery Australia; Burger Collection, Hong Kong; Creative Cities Collection, Beijing, China; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India; Devi Art Foundation, Delhi, India and The Samdani Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ali lives and works in Lahore where he is also a permanent faculty member at the NCA.
"It is fascinating how beliefs change one's appearance. There are a couple of portraits from the "Man of Faith" series and a portrait of a young girl from the "Woman of Faith" series in the show. These works reflect upon how our beliefs shape our identity, how we choose to make it legible and understood.." -AK
SALMAN TOOR (b.1983) grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and moved to the United Sates for college. He is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware Ohio and the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. His first museum show 'Salman Toor: How Will I Know' will be held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. In 2018 his work was exhibited at the Lahore Beinnale 01 and at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2016. His recent solo exhibitons include 'I Know A Place', Nature Morte, New Delhi; 'Time After Time', Aicon Gallery, New York, USA; 'Short Stories' and Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan. He has been featured both as an artist and a writer in publications such as ArtAsiaPacific, Wall Street International, The Express Tribune, and The Friday Times. Toor lives and works between New York and Karachi.
"The works for this show are a kind of dialogue between the comfort of safe spaces and the self-reflective encounter of immigration, between confinement and confrontation, and freedom and repose." -ST
