Samina Iqbal

Biography

Samina Iqbal’s research focuses on the study of modern art in Pakistan in the first decade of its establishment through an artist collective called Lahore Art Circle. Intrigued by patterns, Iqbal is interested in investigating the role of visual pattern and its use to a sort of camouflaging the underlying themes and narratives with recognisable visuals.

An artist, art historian and academic, she currently works as Assistant Professor at the Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. She has previously taught at Appalachian State University, North Carolina, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. 

Iqbal is currently working on extending her research by undertaking a comparative study of what modern art entailed for Pakistan’s neighbouring countries and other nations in the MENASA region, while examining the respective, purposefully open-ended, dialectical tensions between international, national and local stylistic concerns of the region—a parallel dialogue to the western canon.

She received a BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore (1997), an MFA from the University of Minnesota (2003), and a PhD in art historical studies from the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (2016).

Born in 1973 in Quetta, Pakistan, Iqbal lives and works between Pakistan and the United States.

SAF participation:
March Meeting 2021