Sidra Khawaja (Pakistan) is an interdisciplinary creative practitioner, educator, researcher and a Fulbright scholar. Her practice thrives at the intersection of design, craft, anthropology and cultural exploration. She weaves narratives bridging sociopolitical and cultural contexts through interactive public experiences using objects, installations, archives, and multimedia. Her work critically delves into material culture, sparking dialogue on decolonisation, identity, representation, ecofeminism and climate change.
During her residency at Delfina Foundation, Sidra will investigate Kashmiri cultural identity and its enduring influence on indigenous populations as well as the significant diaspora living in the UK by critically examining tangible and intangible practices through visual-material culture. She aims to employ a research-based investigation to develop a deeper understanding of Kashmiri craft and culinary practices within the context of conflict, complex geopolitics, resistance, displacement and ecological exploitations. She hopes to create engaging and meaningful public experiences that can serve as poetic and material representations of the suppressed narratives, histories and subjective experiences of Kashmir.
Sidra is the co-founder of Kashmir Creatives Collective, an independent platform focusing on humanising Kashmir through critical engagement and creative projects. She is dedicated to practice-based artistic research and archival methodologies, as evidenced by Pakistan Karigar Gallery, a digital research archive she founded as part of her teaching practice, fostering the preservation and appreciation of indigenous Pakistani craft and design languages. She has been affiliated with design academia since 2016 and currently serves as a visiting Assistant Professor at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan. Additionally, Sidra has exhibited at museums and galleries both nationally and internationally. She was selected for the Emerging Designer Showcase at Wanted Design, New York Design Week 2021. Her project was also shortlisted for Global Design Graduate Show 2021 in collaboration with GUCCI. She was the recipient of New Artist Society Merit scholarship at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
Sidra was born in Kashmir, and currently lives in Lahore, Pakistan.
With support from:
British Council Pakistan and Foundation Art Divvy
Tags
Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.