Category: Visuals
Country: Pakistan

About

Born in Kuwait, Hamra Abbas is an artist who works in a variety of media to reframe culturally loaded imagery. Though her main interest is sculpture, she has also used everything from stained glass to film to photography to installation work to simultaneously critique both modern Western and Islamic cultures. ¹

In her work Battle Scenes, Hamra takes inspiration from 16th century miniature painting from the Mughal Empire.  Using photos of London park-goers conscripted for the project, she recreates a battle scene from a diptych portraying the accomplishments of Mughal emperor Akbar. The subjects, from different ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds all dressed in jeans and t-shirts, pose as warriors in two snapshots that are then used in a simple animation. The piece is intended to be “a critique of war and contemporary systems of neo-imperialism” in a “post 9/11 context.” ²

Hamra’s stained glass piece Woman in Black delves into the role of women in conflict.  Using religious imagery from the Christian tradition while incorporating styles found in Indian miniature painting, she depicts a woman caught in the middle of a violent scene, recalling the “worldly realities of contemporary society”: the central female figure appears either to be interceding in the conflict or under attack herself.  ³

Hamra earned a bachelor of fine arts and a master of arts in visual arts at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan.  She completed postgraduate work at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany. Living and working between the United States and Pakistan, she has exhibited her work around the world including at the Sharjah Biennial, the Istanbul Biennial, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, United Kingdom. 

[1] “Hamra Abbas: Artist Talk,” Asia Society.

[2] “Work,” HamraAbbas.com.

[3] ibid.