Nadira Husain's work explores visual forms that engages with themes of post-migration, transculturality and cultural hybridity. Her practice originates in painting and expands into spatial and multimedia expressions, frequently incorporating craft-based techniques like textiles and ceramics.
By appropriating symbols and narratives from diverse cultural frameworks connected to her own multicultural background, she weaves these elements into complex pictorial compositions that emphasizes interconnections and relationships in both form and narrative. Her approach embraces varied interpretations of art histories, challenging Eurocentric perspectives and embracing a pluralistic view.
In her work, references to Mughal miniatures intersect with European comics and merge anthropomorphic figures from furry subculture, who, in turn, engage with Sufi Islamic culture.
By flattening foreground and background, perspective and scale, her paintings dissolve traditional formal hierarchies. Her pieces frequently expand into spatial installations, displacing the notion of a central view point.
Beyond her art practice, she has served as a guest professor at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2021 to 2024, where she co-taught with Marina Naprushkina. Since 2017, she has also been a lecturer and mentor at *foundationClass at the Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy. Engaged in self-organized collective initiatives, she regularly contributes to projects grounded in anti-racist and intersectional values within the arts.
Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), and Hyderabad (IN) are the main cities where she lives, draws inspiration, and works.
Represented by
PSM Gallery
Berlin
office[at]psm-gallery.com
Contact
nadira.husain[at]gmail.com
2023
• Boobs in the Arts-Fe:male bodies in Pictorial History, edited by Juliet Kothe and Natanja von Stosch (D/E), 28 8 p., Distanz, 2023
2022
• Manzil Monde – Nadira Husain, catalogue accompanying the solo exhibition of the same title at Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt Museum Künstlerkolonie (D/E), essays by Jamila Adeli, Sandra Bornemann-Quecke, Philipp Gutbrod, Nadira Husain, Carolina Maddè and Barbara Muhr, paperback, 152 p., DCV, 2022
• Wie es ihr gefällt, portrait by Elke Buhr (D), monopol - Magazin für Kunst und Leben, issue 02/2022, February 2022
• Schaut, wir sind an der Oberfläche, Review by Katharina J.Cichosch, taz am Wochenende, 2/3.07.2022
• Nofretete in Adidas, by Katharina Deschka (D), Frankfurter Allgemeine, Nr. 146, 27.06.2022
• Menschen, so blau wie Schlümpfe, by Katharina Deschka (D), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Nr.145, 25.06.2022
2020
• Nadira Husain, monograph ed. by Nadira Husain and Maria Isserlis, texts by Leeza Ahmady, Sonia Recasens, Haytham el-Wardany, paperback, 204 p., Bierke, 2020
• Krishna und die Schlümpfe, portrait by Kito Nedo (D), art – das kunstmagazin, July 2020
• Verhext und zugeschlumpft, Review by Julia Meyer-Brehm (D), gallerytalk.net, 9.11.2020
• Que(e)r durch die Kunst, Review by Sophie Jung (D), taz Berlin, 7.11.2020
• Point de Vue, 6 min. video portrait shot in Husain’s studio, produced by The Office for Visual Arts of the French Institute of Germany, 5.11.2020
• Migration Pride, 4 min. video with Nadira Husain about her triptyche painting as commissioned by the Stadtmuseum Berlin, 10.9.2020
• Summer Academy Salzburg, 1 hour lecture by Nadira Husain about her artistic practice, 18.8.2020
2019
• Body in Pieces, catalogue accompanying the group exhibition of the same title at KAI 10, Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf (D), curated/edited by Julia Höner, essay by Kerstin Schankweiler, 112 pages, Spector books, 2019
• Nadira Husain, review by Chloe Chu (E), artasiapacific - Contemporary Visual Culture, Issue 113, May/June 2019
• Digression Batarde, Interview by Sonia Recasens (F), possible - revue critique d'art contemporain, No. 4
2018
• Dissolved Binarities, interview by Seda Pesen (E), KubaParis – Zeitschrift für junge Kunst, June 2018
• n.b.k. Mess with your values, catalogue accompanying the group exhibition of the same title at n.b.k. Berlin (D/E), curated by Marenka Krasomil & Michaela Richter, essay by the curators, 144 p., Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2018
• Nadira Husain « Pourquoi je suis tout bleu », review by Marie Chênel (F), La belle revue, 2018
2017
• Prix AICA France de la critique d’art, 7 min. lecture (French) by Timothée Chaillou about Nadira Husain’s work
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Interview with Nadira Husain, by Sarie Nijboer (E), Bpigs, 6.10.2017
• Nah und Fern, catalogue accompanying the triennale Bingen 2017 - Skulpturen am Rheinkilometer 529, Bingen (D), curated by Lutz Driver & André Odier, essay by Britta von Campenhausen, published by Gerda und Kuno Pieroth Stiftung, 2017
2016
• Inside to outside to inside, essay by Jens Hoffman about outsider aesthetics (E), Mousse Magazine, Issue 54, June 2016
• Nadira Husain, review by Roy Brand, Artforum, April 2016
2015
• Nadira Husain, portrait by Raimar Stange (D), Artist Kunstmagazin, Issue 102, February-April 2015
• Nadira Husain - Feature Furry, exhibition catalogue with texts (D&E) by Elke Keiper, Yasmina Lahjij und Eva Scharrer, 40 pages, Waldkraiburg (D): Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg, 2015
2014
• Beugen, Strecken, Wahrnehmen, review by Raimar Stange, Frieze d/e, Issue 16, September- November 2014
curriculum vitae
