Skip to main content
Almine Rech

Hiba Schahbaz

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Hiba Schahbaz trained in traditional Indo-Persian miniature painting at the National College of Arts, Lahore. Since migrating to the United States, Schahbaz has challenged the rigorous rules of miniature painting to embrace a female perspective, while also creating space and representation for those who have so often been left out of Western art. Schahbaz’s practice has expanded from miniature to human-scale paintings that depict female bodies, while referencing self-portraiture. Schahbaz works with oils, wood, paper, black tea, and water-based pigments, specifically using tea to connect to South Asian culture. Hiba Schahbaz received an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute and has exhibited internationally since 2002. Her recent exhibitions include In New York Thinking of You at FLAG Art Foundation (2023), Love Songs at Almine Rech Paris (2023), Fire Figure Fantasy at ICA Miami (2022), Wonder Women at Jeffrey Deitch (2022)and In My Heart, a public art commission for Rockefeller Centre with Art Production Fund (2021). Schahbaz has been an artist resident at The Tang Museum, Mass MocA, StoneLeaf Retreat, The Wassaic Project, and a visiting artist at the Vermont Studio Center. She currently serves as a board member for Art Production Fund.

Museum exhibitions