Hamra Abbas

Hamra Abbas is a Pakistani visual artist. She was born in Kuwait City and grew up in Lahore. She has the degrees Bachelor of Fine Arts (1999) and Master of Arts in Visual Arts (2002) from the National College of Arts in Lahore followed by Master of Arts from the Universitat der Kunste, Berlin, Germany (2004).

Hamra is best known for her interdisciplinary and diverse practice that ranges from marble-inlay sculptures and miniature silk paintings to colour and light installations. She has used Mughal architecture, religious and vernacular iconography, and portraiture to address notions of cultural memory, sexuality, and faith. Her recent works largely focus on the image of a garden and the aesthetics of devotion to question the ideals of truth and perfection.

She has participated in the inaugural Asia Society Triennial, New York (2020) and Lahore Biennale, Pakistan (2018), 2nd Karachi Biennale, Pakistan (2019), 2nd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014), Changwon Sculpture Biennale, South Korea (2014), deCordova Biennial, US (2013), Asian Art Biennial, Taiwan (2011), 9th Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2009), 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, China (2008), 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2007), and 15th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2006). Abbas has taken part in group shows at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2017), Wilhelm-Hack- Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein (2014), Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, Kansas (2013), Singapore Art Museum (2012), REDCAT, Los Angeles (2009), MAXXI, Rome (2016), ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2016), Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou (2011), Asia Society Museum, New York (2009), Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (2009) and Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2009).

Hamra Abbas was awarded the Jury Prize at the Sharjah Biennial 9. Most recently she was Artist- in-Residence at Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide, Italy (2019), The Marble House Project, Dorset, Vermont, USA (2016), and Artist-in-Residence, Nanyang Technological University CCA Singapore, Nanyang, Singapore (2015). For Tonight No Poetry Will Serve, we have a getaway portrait from Hamra’s new series Every Colour (2020). The portrait is painted in a unique cross between Chinese Gongbi and miniature painting techniques. In this series, depicting the displaced transgender community in Lahore, the artist omits head covering, such as shawls, to focus the faces of the individuals. The results are intimate snapshots that connect the viewer with the faces of this marginalised community, facing an uncertain future.

Hamra Abbas has recently moved back to Lahore after many years of living and working between Berlin and Boston.

The exhibition is for a great cause and I am very happy to be a part of it.