HIBA SCHAHBAZ

Hiba Schahbaz (born Pakistan, 1981) is a Brooklyn-based artist who works in the centuries-old art form of miniature painting. She trained in miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan and received an MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in New York City. The traditional Indo-Persian painting technique and imagery Schahbaz uses was developed by men to tell the stories of antiquity, and her work challenges the medium’s inflexible rules by embracing a new female perspective. Schahbaz says, “I speak an ancient language in a contemporary feminine voice.”

Referencing her own image, often nude, she paints elegant vignettes and more elaborate scenes. Through the stories she creates, Schahbaz contemplates what it means to be a woman. These works addresses issues of personal freedom, destruction, sexuality and censorship by unveiling the beauty, fragility and strength of the female form. 

Meticulously ornamented and vividly colorful, the miniature draws the viewer in. This delicate allure is underscored, however, by an unsettling tension. Things are not quite what they seem. 

In addition to exhibiting her work internationally in galleries and fairs including the Vienna Art Fair and Scope NYC, Schahbaz has curated exhibitions of miniature paintings in Pakistan and India. She was an artist-in residence at the Vermont Studio Center and The Wassaic Project and has taught miniature painting as part of the Alfred Z. Solomon Residency at the Tang Museum. She is a teaching artist at the Art Students League of New York.