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Pakistani visual artist Sadaf Naeem, works in painting, sculpture, installation. She received her MFA degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA in 2022 and BFA degree in painting with honors from the National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan in 2002. Sadaf has presented solo exhibitions at O Art Space (Lahore Pakistan) in 2024 and 2019, Commons Gallery at University of Hawaii at Mānoa (USA) in 2022, GRRIC, UHM, (Honolulu, USA) in 2021, Chawkandi art Gallery (Karachi, Pakistan) in 2017, Koel art gallery (Karachi, Pakistan) in 2015, Taseer art gallery (Lahore, Pakistan) in 2013 and Ejaz art Gallery (Lahore, Pakistan) in 2007. In July 2025 she was a resident artist at Matdot Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand and had a two person show at Matdot Art Center Gallery. Sadaf was selected artist for NCA Triennale 2025 and presented an installation “tangled”. She was part of Datum 25 and exhibited a sculpture “Threads of Steel “at Iapex 2025. Her work was part of Chronicles Bound” Curated by Anissa Touati, at Paris Asian Art Fair, Paris, France in 2024. Sadaf was included in the art fair Huntenkunst 2024, Netherlands. In 2024, She was invited for the 2nd International Conference at Phuket Rajbhat University and presented a paper “Exploring Textiles as Visual Arts”. She has shown her work in the exhibition “Asia Network beyond Design” at Bangkok Thonburi University in 2024. She also presented a paper “Exploring Body Politics: Modern Art Philosophies through the Lens of Female Artists” in the 2ndInternational Conference of social sciences “Contemporary World: Challenges and Transformations 2023” (CWCT-2023) in 2023. She has received the 2020 Award of Merit in the Memory of Ethel Portner in the group show Fiber Hawai’i 2020 at Gallery lolani, Hawai’i. She is a recipient of the foundation scholarship at EWC for 2020-2021, Lipsher Memorial award at UH Mānoa for 2020 and 2021. She presented an installation at the Karachi Biennale in 2019, and produced an installation at Alliance Francaise. She has received Nigaah Art award in 2017, Pakistan. In 2019, her work was included in the publication of Nigah, “20 Pakistani women artist you should know”, edited by Tauqeer Muhajir, profiles by Marjorie Husain and Uzma Nawaz. She participated in group show Euphonic Palate’ by Nitanjli art gallery, Mumbai, and Delhi, India, Colombo art Gallery Sri Lanka. Lantern of the east, the 16thPyeongtaek International Art Festival, Korea. Auction organized by Citizen Foundation at Dubai, UAE, and Scarsdale, New York.
Sadaf is an active art educator. She has conducted drawing and painting workshops at Studio Rm for children ages 5 to 12 years, from 2008 till 2019, and part of Art beat, National painting competition for kids, from 2012 to 2018. She also did arts counseling workshops in government schools (Punjab) and at Hamza foundation for kids with special needs. Currently she is Assistant Professor at FC College University, Lahore Pakistan. She was part of visiting faculty for at National College of Arts, and College of Art and Design, Punjab University, Lahore Pakistan. She has taught at the professional colleges ‘Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design’, and ‘Kinnaird College for Women’. She is Director of Studio Rm focusing on bringing change through art education and celebrate the contribution of local and international artists at various programs in Studio Rm and Studio Rm Residency, (Lahore, Pakistan).
I engage and use my body as the central reference in my creative process. I observe my body and its surrounding as it acts or reacts, stores or reflects, according to time and space. I use my body to observe the agency that women have in different cultures and societies. I was raised in the loud and vibrant culture Pakistan, Punjab, where women have a more integral role in social, domestic and economical settings than men. They work in the fields, do all household jobs, and take care of their children simultaneously. I am interested in the bodies of these women and how they interact with spaces of emotional and physical labor. I meld experience, concept and material in the form of narration.
I incorporate Paper making, waxing, tearing, cutting, pasting, stitching, molding and painting techniques in my work. I use materials and methods that are historically suggestive of craft and fine art traditions. I believe materials carry value and agency, and apply them in the process of fabrication.