Photo Courtesy: Nael Quraishi
My practice begins with the act of making marks. Through an intuitive process of painting and time-based media, I explore presence, memory, and transformation.
I approach the mark as a spatial gesture, mapping the tensions between structure and vulnerability, containment and release, presence and disappearance.
Rather than offering fixed meanings, the work creates space for reflection. It invites viewers to slow down, notice what often goes unseen, and encounter moments of connection, uncertainty, and quiet resonance.
Ayessha Quraishi (b. 1970, Karachi, Pakistan) is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting and time-based media. Initially mentored by Nayyar Jamil, she has developed a distinctive practice rooted in process, materiality, and abstraction.
Over nearly four decades, her work has been exhibited widely in Pakistan and internationally, including the Istanbul and Karachi Biennales, MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today at the National Museum of Qatar (2024), and TRACES: Drawing Practices Now at COMO Museum, Lahore (2026). In 2025, her documentary NAYYAR: An Art Story was presented at the Ekim Gecidi Istanbul Biennale.
Quraishi was a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2022) and has received the ADA Award (2021), the British Council PK–UK New Perspectives Grant (2022), and a Patakha Pictures Grant (2023). Her work is held in public and private collections in Pakistan and internationally.
Curriculum Vitae
Awards & Grants
2023 — Grantee, Patakha Pictures – Stories from Southern Pakistan
2022 — Finalist, The Sovereign Asian Art Prize
2022 — Grantee, British Council Pakistan | PKUK New Perspectives
2021 — Recipient, ADA Award, Architecture Design Art Awards
Solo Exhibitions
2024 — Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows, Koel Gallery, Karachi
2020 — Between Light (Mid-Career Retrospective), Koel Gallery, Karachi
2018 — All that is, is held, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2016 — Open Presence, Koel Gallery, Karachi
2013 — Liminal, Khaas Art Gallery, Islamabad
2013 — Continuous / Present, Rothas II, Lahore
2012 — Letters from An Underground Vein Read, Koel Gallery, Karachi
1998 — Indus Gallery, Karachi
1997 — The Art Gallery, Islamabad
1995 — NCA Gallery, Lahore
1995 — Gallery Ardeco, Avignon, France
Selected Group Exhibitions
International
2024 — MANZAR: Art & Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, National Museum of Qatar, Doha, Qatar
2024 — Anonymous Exhibition, Sovereign Art Foundation, Art Central, Hong Kong
2023 — Flow, Mission Gallery, Swansea, Wales
2022 — The 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Art Central, Hong Kong
2014 — Mostra Internazionale di Pittura, Matera, Italy
2013 — Pakistani Art Supporting WFP, Christie’s, Dubai, UAE
2012 — Abstract Art in Contemporary Russia, Moscow, Russia
Pakistan
2026 — Traces: Drawing Practices Now, Curated by Hassan Sheikh, COMO Museum, Lahore
2026 — Haus Edit Vol. 01, Curated by Zarmeene Shah and Studio Sera, Lightwell Residence, Karachi
2025 — Dialogues Across Time, Curated by Saira Danish Ahmed, Chawkandi Art, Karachi
2024 — 125th Show, Curated by Arjumand Faisel, Gallery 6, Islamabad
2022 — Sculptor/Sculpture, Como Museum, Lahore
2022 — Lines of Inquiry, Curated by Nusrat Khawja, Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
2022 — Something Borrowed Something New, Curated by Arshad Faruqi, Copper and Steel, Karachi
2021 — Khat-o-Kitabat: Connecting Past Present Future, Curated by R.M. Naeem and Nurayah Sheikh Nabi, O’Art Space, Lahore
2017 — Recorded Time, Curated by Sadia Salim, Koel Gallery, Karachi
2016 — Open Field: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Curated by Aasim Akhtar, Kuch Khaas, Islamabad
Full list available on request.
Biennales
2025 — Ekim Gecidi Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 — Uluslararası Istanbul Biennale, Turkey
2017 — Karachi Biennale, Pakistan
2013 — Bodrum Biennial, Turkey
2011 — Biennial Izmir, Turkey
Residencies
2017 — Recorded Time, Koel Gallery, Karachi
2013 — Hic - 2 Workshop, Turgutreis / Bodrum, Turkey
2011 — Winter Academy, Fayoum, Egypt
2010 — International Painting Symposium, Luxor, Egypt
1996 — Association Saint-Henri, France
Public Art Festivals
2020 — IPAF Karachi ki khoj: Redefining the Metropolis, NED University, Karachi
Fairs & Auctions
2024 — Anonymous Exhibition, Sovereign Art Foundation, Art Central, Hong Kong
2022 — The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Art Central, Hong Kong
2013 — Pakistani Art Supporting WFP, Christie’s, Dubai
Collections
Permanent Collection — HBL Mega Towers, Karachi
Permanent Collection — Rangoonwala Foundation, UK
Private Collections — Europe, USA, and Asia
Publications
2020 — Monograph: Between Light: Ayessha Quraishi – Works: 1985–2020