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Baseera Khan
Baseera Khan
	Khan in 2023
Born	Baseera Khan; 1980; Denton, Texas, US
Education	University of North Texas; Cornell University
Known for	Installation art; Mixed media
Awards	The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist (2023)

Baseera Khan (born 1980) is an American visual artist who uses material, form, and color to express non-verbal concepts in sculpture, installation, painting, performance, and photography.

Khan uses they/them pronouns.^[1]^[2]^[3] Their work discusses the political circumstances of their identity as a queer Muslim and "as a feminist, and as a brown Indian-Afghani".^[4] They are based in New York City.

Early life and education

Khan was born in 1980 in Denton, Texas.^[5]^[6] They were raised in Denton by working class, Muslim parents who lived in near-isolation because of the threat of deportation.^[7] Their parents emigrated from Bangalore, India to the United States before they were born.^[4]

They received a B.F.A. in drawing/painting and sociology from the University of North Texas in 2005, and an M.F.A. from the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 2012.^[8] In 2014, they completed the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture program.^[9]

Career

*The Liberator* (2022) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2023

Khan is a conceptual artist who uses a variety of mediums to "visualize patterns and repetitions of exile and kinship shaped by economic, social, and political changes in local and global environments, with special interests in decolonization processes".^[10]

In December 2016, Khan was listed by Artnet, the art market website, as one of "14 Emerging Women Artists to Watch for 2017".^[11]

Khan's first solo exhibition in New York was at the Participant Inc gallery space in 2017.^[12] The exhibition, titled "iamuslima", was named after the eponymous term that Khan had Nike stitch on a pair of sneakers as a way of protesting Nike Inc.'s refusal to allow the words "Islam" or "Muslim" on its customizable sneaker models.^[12]^[13]

In 2018, Khan was an artist in residence at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.^[14] Other residencies and fellowships include an artist residency at Abrons Arts Center (2016–17), an International Travel Fellowship to Jerusalem/Ramallah through Apexart (2015) and a Process Space artist residency at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (2015).^[15]

Khan staged their first solo museum exhibition, "Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive," in 2021 at the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Presented as part of the annual UOVO Prize for emerging Brooklyn-based artists, the exhibition explored themes of Muslim-American identity and the body as a place of shared history.^[16]

In 2022, Khan was commissioned to create a series of sculptures based on the form of a Corinthian column – albeit one that seems to have been toppled and wrapped in handmade silk rugs from Kashmir – for Meta’s Manhattan office complex in the historic James A. Farley Building.^[17]

In 2023, Khan was the winner of The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist, a reality TV series that aired on MTV and the Smithsonian Channel.^[18] Following the series finale, Khan's final winning commission, The Liberator (2022), was installed in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., from May to July 2023. The work, a mixed media figurative sculpture made from a 3D-printed model of the artist's body and plexiglass, was partly inspired by an 18th-century Buddhist statue, Naro Dakini, in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art.^[19]

Exhibitions

2015: Walk with Me, Critical Practices Inc., New York, New York
2015: Of Gentle Birth, Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn, New York
2016: BRIC Biennial, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, New York^[10]
2016: SKOWHEGANPerforms, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, New York
2016: Subject to Capital, Abrons Art Center, New York, New York
2017: Standard Forms, curated by Christian Camacho-Light, Art Galleries at The Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey, New Jersey^[20]
2017: Ritual, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado
2017: Other Romances, curated by Em Rooney, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, NY^[21]
2017: Sessions, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
2017: Fatal Love, Queens Museum, Queens, New York
2017: Iamuslima, Participant Inc. Gallery, New York, New York^[10]
2018: How to see in the dark, curated by Christian Camacho-Light, Cuchifritos, New York, New York^[22]
2018: Not for Everybody, curated by Allie Tepper, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, New York
2018: Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
2018: SEED, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, New York
2018: Carry Over: New Voices from the Global African Diaspora, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York
2018: Mane n' Tail, Luminary, St. Louis, MO
2018: ROYGBIV, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, New York
2018: I am no bird..., ltd Los Angeles, California
2018: In Practice: Another Echo, SculptureCenter, New York, New York
2018: Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
2018: LOVE 2018: Purple Hearts, LeRoy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University, New York
2018: Hyphen American, Gallery 102, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
2018: iamuslima, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Colorado
2019: snake skin, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, 2019 ^[23]
2021: I Am an Archive, Brooklyn Museum, New York^[16]
2023: Cloak and Dagger, De La Cruz Art Gallery, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

References

^ "This Labor Day, These Workers Are Trying to Stay Afloat". The New York Times. 4 September 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
^ "Baseera Khan Opens a Solo Exhibition at Moody Center for the Arts". OutSmart Magazine. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
^ Abrams, Bill (30 April 2021). "Made in America: Baseera Khan at Lux Art Institute". Ranch & Coast Magazine. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b Jane Ursula Harris (26 May 2017). "Baseera Khan". Art in America. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
^ "Baseera Khan". Muslims in Brooklyn Website. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
^ "Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive". Brooklyn Museum. 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
^ "Baseera Khan". Rema Hort Mann Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
^ "Baseera Khan". Abrons Arts Center. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
^ "Baseera Khan (A '14)". Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Study Sessions: Baseera Khan". Whitney Museum of American Art. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
^ Sarah Cascone (21 December 2016). "14 Emerging Women Artists to Watch in 2017". Artnet. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Baseera Khan". Art in America. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
^ "iamuslima". Baseera Khan Studios. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- Kasem, Yasmine Kasem, (2019) "Jihad of Bitter Petals: Queering Identity and Material through Unraveling and Struggle", masters thesis, University Of California San Diego
^ "Baseera Khan". Pioneer Works. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
^ "Baseera Khan". Baseera Khan. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
^ Benjamin Sutton (24 August 2022), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/08/24/meta-new-york-office-art-commissions [Meta puts analogue art front and centre in sprawling new Manhattan office] The Art Newspaper.
^ Roger, Catlin (3 March 2023). "Behind the Scenes of the New Reality Series, 'The Exhibit'". The Smithsonian. Washington DC. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ Chen, Min (1 May 2023). "Artist Baseera Khan's Sculpture That Won Them the Top Prize on Reality Show 'The Exhibit' Will Go on View at the Hirshhorn". Artnet. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ Standard Forms
^ Other Romances
^ How to see in the dark
^ Anania, Billy (4 December 2019). "Baseera Khan's Vivid, Anti-Imperialist Odes". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Gilbert, Alan (2019). "Baseera Khan: snake skin". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 10 November 2020.