Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities March 20–June 5, 2022
Shahzia Sikander, Pleasure Pillars, 2001, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, collection of Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, The Scroll (detail), 1989–90, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, collection of the artist. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, The Scroll, 1989–90, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, collection of the artist. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, No Fly Zone, 2002, watercolor, dry pigment, gravure, and inkjet outline on wasli paper, collection of Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, Mirrat I, 1989–90, vegetable color, dry pigment, watercolor, and gold leaf on tea-stained wasli paper, collection of the artist. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, Uprooted Order, Series 3, No. 1, 1997, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Joseph Havel and Lisa Ludwig. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Shahzia Sikander, Eye-I-ing Those Armorial Bearings, 1989–97, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, collection of Carol and Arthur Goldberg. © 2021 Shahzia Sikander / Courtesy of the artist; Sean Kelly, New York; and Pilar Corrias, London
Installation view of Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities.
Installation view of Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities.
Installation view of Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities.
Extraordinary Realities examines the career of Shahzia Sikander during her prolific first 15 years. Paintings, drawings, and video animations show how the Pakistani American artist explores contemporary issues by transforming and subverting South and Central Asian illustrated manuscript painting.
Born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1969, Sikander was an artist in the Core Residency Program at the MFAH Glassell School of Art from 1995 to 1997. She is now internationally celebrated for bringing manuscript painting traditions into dialogue with contemporary art practice.
Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities brings together nearly 60 of Sikander’s works, from public and private collections. The presentation tracks her groundbreaking deconstruction of manuscript painting in Pakistan; development of a new personal vocabulary in her graduate years at the Rhode Island School of Design; expanded explorations around identity at the Glassell School; and global approach during her first years in New York. Throughout that time, she richly interrogated gender, sexuality, race, class, and history, creating open-ended narratives that have sustained her as one of the most significant artists working today.
Sikander’s vibrant synthesis of traditional and contemporary art has played a critical role in recognizing a wider range of perspectives, including those of women, people of color, Muslims, and artists working outside the United States and Europe.
► Publication
The illustrated exhibition catalogue is available through the MFA Shop (713.639.7360) and the Museum’s Hirsch Library (713.639.7325).
► A Conversation with the Artist
Shahzia Sikander talks about Extraordinary Realities during this walk-through of the exhibition galleries.
► Exhibition Overview
Find out more about Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities from the organizing curator, Jan Howard of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum.
Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities / March 20–June 5, 2022
• Included with general admission. Advance timed tickets recommended.
“Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities” is organized by the RISD Museum and presented in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This exhibition originated at the RISD Museum thanks to generous federal, private, and endowment support.
Major support is provided by:
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Generous funding provided by:
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
The Margaret Cooke Skidmore Exhibition Endowment
Bettie Cartwright
Jereann and Holland Chaney
Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation