Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden

hiba schahbaz the garden

Hiba Schahbaz is the subject of her first major museum retrospective, "The Garden," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Curated by Jasmine Wahi, the exhibition features 80 works spanning 15 years, tracing the artist's evolution from traditional Indo-Persian miniature painting in Lahore to her current large-scale practice in Brooklyn. The show highlights her recurring use of the female nude—often a stylized self-portrait—navigating mystical landscapes filled with Sufi poetry, mythical creatures, and art historical references.

Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander navigates her country’s complex past—a new monograph tells her story

Shahzia Sikander, a Pakistani artist born in Lahore after the Partition of India, is the subject of a new monograph by art historian Jason Rosenfeld. The article traces her rise from the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, where she studied contemporary miniature painting—a genre uniquely associated with Pakistan—to international prominence. It highlights her graduate thesis, *The Scroll* (1989-90), which used the traditional Indo-Persian miniature form to critique General Zia ul Haq's military dictatorship, and positions her alongside Imran Qureshi as one of the best-known living artists of Pakistani origin.

Persian miniatures and mermaids: Hiba Schahbaz’s garden of delights at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami has opened "Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden," the first major retrospective of Karachi-born, Brooklyn-based artist Hiba Schahbaz. Curated by Jasmine Wahi, the exhibition spans 15 years of Schahbaz's practice, including loans from private collections, studio works, and new commissions. Anchored by the concept of the jannat (Paradise Garden) rooted in Islamic tradition and Sufi poetry, the show is organized around the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. Schahbaz, trained in the Indo-Persian miniature tradition, works with water-based pigments and tea on handmade paper, and her practice has evolved from small formats to large-scale works, including a 45-foot-by-14-foot mermaid painting commissioned for the Miami show.