Boundaries - Curated by Mehnaz Mia

About

Looking specifically at the perceptions of Muslim women in south Asian socio-religious cultures, Boundaries invites us to question the limitations placed on art, art spaces and its practitioners. The hegemonic systems that dictate their normative attributions and associations are examined primarily through the multidisciplinary art of Amber Hammad and the virtual space within which they have been rendered.

Growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, Hammad reimagines art from across the ‘western’ canon, reinventing renowned images to reflect her socio-religious and cultural identity, pushing the boundaries placed on art and re-examining the notions of belonging and ownership.

Through humour and an embracement of the woman’s body in all its forms, Hammad plays with notions of visibility, of power, of ownership, appropriation and identity in global and local contexts. This collection showcases over a decade of work; the icon of the Muslim, south Asian woman grows and adapts with the artist’s practice, rejecting any historicised and static boundaries placed around her, finding empowerment through re-imagined canonical art, in a space that is truly hers.