Artist in Residence at the South Asia Art Initiative: Imran Qureshi

The South Asia Art Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley is delighted to announce the 2025 SAAI Artist/Scholar in Residence with Imran Qureshi.

At UC Berkeley, audiences will journey with Qureshi to the Mughal past as recorded in the magnificent paintings in the BAMPFA collection, learn to work with pigments and techniques rooted in South Asia’s artistic cultures in a hands-on workshop, engage with Imran Qureshi’s art practice, and vicariously participate in the cosmopolitan artworld of contemporary Pakistani art over the course of the residency.

Imran Qureshi (born 1972, Pakistan), recipient of Sitara-e-imtiaz, one of the highest civil awards from the President of Pakistan, is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist known for his innovative synthesis of historical Mughal paintings with contemporary themes. A graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, where he also teaches, Qureshi’s contemporary practice encompass figurative and abstract works on paper, monumental paintings, and site-specific installations including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden Commission. He has received the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France (2025), the U.S. Department of State’s International Medal of the Arts (2017), the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year (2013), and the Sharjah Biennial Prize (2011), among other recognitions. Qureshi has exhibited extensively, including at the Barbican Centre, London, the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, and the Venice Biennale. Widely considered to be one of South Asia’s most influential contemporary artists, Qureshi’s site-specific installations and paintings explores the liminal spaces between aesthetics and politics, pleasure and pain, splendor and violence, in turn probing the boundaries of the familiar and the uncanny.

The South Asia Art Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley promotes research-based conversations and collaborations around the arts of South Asia + its diasporas from the ancient period to the now. SAAI’s mission as an incubator of creative thought and practice is animated by the research interests of the UC Berkeley community of faculty and students as well as collaborations with national and international partner institutions. Along with hosting lectures, conferences, and artist/curator/scholar residencies, the SAAI offers the annual UC Berkeley South Asia Art & Architecture Dissertation Prize and the UC Berkeley South Asia Artist Prize.

The South Asia Art Initiative 2025 Artist/Scholar in Residence is presented in collaboration with the Lahore Biennale Foundation

Events
Look! with Imran Qureshi: April 24, 2–3:30pm
Study Mughal paintings in the BAMPFA’s collection with Imran Qureshi (RSVP only). Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, California 94720.

Imran Qureshi artist’s talk: April 24, 4–6:30pm
SAAI Artist in Residence Reception and Talk. 10 Stephens Hall, Berkeley, California 94720.

Between History and the Present: April 25, 6–8pm
A conversation between Imran Qureshi and Qudsia Rahim, Executive Director, Lahore Biennale Foundation

Make! with Imran Qureshi: April 26, 1–5pm
Hands-on materials and practice workshop with Imran Quresh (RSVP only). 120 Anthropology and Art Practice Building, Berkeley, California 94720.