Naiza Khan
APT9
Born 1968 Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan and London, United Kingdom
In a practice spanning more than 25 years, Naiza Khan has created a compelling collection of works concerned with the female body, as well as exploring broader themes of place and identity. Khan trained as a painter and printmaker and is also known for her painting, sculpture and installations. These have included Henna Hands (1997–2002), in which she stencilled henna-paste silhouettes of female bodies on the walls of a Karachi neighbourhood, and an ongoing series of sculptural works using galvanised steel, latex, leather, feathers and organza. These sculptures resemble armour but take their form from lingerie, chastity belts, corsets and other items of clothing. Khan initially created the works in response to a defining socio-religious Urdu text that prescribed ‘appropriate’ morals and behaviour for young Muslim women. With their fragmented, incomplete forms they also resemble wounded bodies, reflecting on the presence of militarism and violence throughout the world.
Naiza Khan / Pakistan b. 1968 / Armour Suit for Rani of Jhansi II 2017 / Galvanized steel, feathers, leather ed.2/2 / 88 x 40 x 32cm / Private Collection, Sydney / © Naiza Khan / Image courtesy: The artist and Rossi & Rossi, HK | London
Naiza Khan investigates what she calls ‘the ambiguous and complex relationship between the female body and female identity’. Her works address the representation of women in postcolonial Pakistan, as well as conventions of beauty and gender more broadly. In doing so, she also explores the political role of the body and its potential as a subject of resistance.
Since 2006, Khan has created a significant body of sculptural work known as the ‘Heavenly Ornaments’ series. The works developed from her readings of Bahishti Zewar (Heavenly Ornaments), a socio-religious Urdu text focused on the moral education of women and girls. Khan’s works explore the connotations, ambiguities and paradoxes of how the female body has been treated throughout history and in different contexts, and refer to heroines and female warriors, as well as costume and bodily apparatus. Some evoke ideas of beauty and elegance, while others — such as corsets and chastity belts — imply dominance and objectification.
Khan’s Armour Suit for Rani of Jhansi II 2017 takes its title from a celebrated heroine of the resistance against the British Raj during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. She is commonly portrayed as a gallant fighter adorned in jewels, and equipped with weapons and armour. Other works depict historical European costumes, as well as garments that incorporate holes, spikes and piercings, signalling the violence that the body has been subject to throughout the world.
