Shazia Ahmad

Lives and works in Montreal, QC, Canada

Artist statement

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, 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 speaks to the centrality of reminiscence and the passage of time as an accumulation of history. I chronicle journeys through time and place, paying tribute to intimate relationships that develop over the course of these passages. Thus, the concept of family transcends blood. Intimacy is expressed through character interactions in domestic settings. Moreover, I pay tribute to my Pakistani heritage by merging elements of the country’s material culture with personal imagery in my visual vocabulary. Being of an interfaith, mixed-race background, my work is grounded in the notions of home and belonging. My practice comprises painting, handmade dioramas, screen print, digital print, book arts, monotype, and and drawing. Born in Karachi to a Pakistani father and a Chilean mother, my research interests are tied to the broader theme of otherness due to my interfaith and mixed-race background. I graduated from the Studio Arts program at Concordia University in...

Artwork