Wardha Shabbir

The lush nature captured in Shabbir's meticulous work is an ode to perseverance and resistance, an ecosystem in which some elements coexist, a cycle in which the end of one is part of the beginning of another. Wardha Shabbir's visual research revolves around spaces and dimensions, while referencing marks in the physical and mental worlds. For Wardha the surrounding spaces of the paper are a continuity of her paintings. Like a multitude of worlds within others, in her paintings new "spaces" open within the paintings themselves, in the form of passages, enclosures, and sometimes even light. The artist builds these maps, not only to familiarize herself with the spaces, but also as a mean to navigate through the past and the future, as a device to return to the self.

Wardha Shabbir (1987, Lahore – Pakistan) is a visual artist, graduated from the prestigious National College of Arts, (NCA – Lahore).

Shabbir has exhibited her work in international institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum (2018, London), the Jameel Arts Center (2019, Dubai) and participated in the Dhaka Art Summit (2014, Bangladesh) and the Lahore Bienale – LB01 (2018, Pakistan). Her work is present in prominent collections, such as: the British Museum, (London) or the Kiran Nadar Museum (India, 2023), to name a few.

Her individual exhibitions include: If A Tree Could Wander at Alhamra Arts Centre, a public institution in Lahore, Pakistan; The Water You Seek 2022 at Grosvenor Gallery London; Green Matter at Canvas Gallery, Karachi 2021, among others.

Wardha Shabbir was nominated for the Jameel Prize 5 (2018), the Sovereign Art Prize, (2019 and 2020). She was the first Pakistani artist selected for FLACC Belgium. In 2016, she participated in the Summer Intensive Program at Slade School of Fine Arts, London.