Shazia Ahmad

Memories are fragile things. The beginning of the story reveals a room of possessions. This chair has seen a variety of uses: bums, clothes, towel racks, history. The painting is a map of remembrances. These possessions, reminders of past journeys and experiences, are cheap trinkets that grow in value over time. This cushion has been on many a bed, sofas and chairs, chewed on by many pets. Nostalgia makes it invaluable. What experiences are embodied by these objects? How do these spaces become home when filled with them?

My work, through the creation of handmade miniature dioramas, painting, and printmaking, speaks to the centrality of reminiscence and the passage of time as an accumulation of history. Works serve as a chronicle of personal journeys through time and place, while also paying tribute to intimate relationships that develop over the course of these passages. Thus, the concept of family, a vital element of my work, transcends blood. Moreover, I pay tribute to my Pakistani heritage by merging elements of the country’s material culture with personal imagery. Being of an interfaith, mixed-race background (Pakistani father, Chilean mother), my practice is grounded in home and belonging.

2019 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, Painting and Drawing Major, Great Distinction, Concordia University
2018 Drawing in Italy, Concordia University (Summer semester)
2015 Certificate in Art and Design Studio Skills, OCAD University, Toronto
2014 Certificate in Digital Media Skills, OCAD University, Toronto
2001-04 Bachelor of Arts, First Class Joint Honours Art History/History, McGill University
1999 BTEC Foundation Diploma, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London

2023 Making Home Here, ANC & The Rooms, The Rooms, St. John's, NL
2022 Tenderness (A Meditation on Home), St. Michael's Printshop, St. John's, NL
2022 Three Years, Two Gardens, One Feeling, rOGUE Gallery, Eastern Edge Artist-Run Centre, St. John's, NL
2021 Clay Roots, McClure Gallery, Montreal (online exhibition)
2021 Americas COVID-19 Memorial, Biennial of the Americas, Museo de las Americas, Denver, CO
2021 All My Friends are Miracles 2, Sow and Tailor, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Colours of South Asia: Horizons of Hope, VASA (Visual Arts of South Asia) Arts Festival (online exhibition)
2021 Unmute: Virtual Artist Residency Showcase, artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts (online exhibition)
2021 Visual Arts, The Social Distancing Festival (online showcase)
2021 Empathy/Empathie Virtual Vitrine, 15th Annual Art History Graduate Conference, Concordia University (online exhibition)
2021 Her Weight in Gold, curated by Mollie E. Barnes, Visionary Art Collective (online exhibition)
2020 10x10x10Tieton 2020, Tieton Arts & Humanities, Tieton, Washington (forthcoming)
2020 retro/intro(spection), San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, California
2019 Pop Up Exhibition, Plaza Amarilla, Castilblanco de los Arroyos, Sevill...