Faiza Butt

Born in 1973 in Lahore, Pakistan, Faiza Butt trained at the National College of Arts in Lahore and later obtained a master’s degree with distinction at the Slade School of Art in London. She also received a teaching certificate from the Institute of Education. Although living in London, Butt’s Pakistani roots are clearly evident in her work as she brings to our attention various social, gender and political issues faced by a young Pakistani. In the past, her work has taken a critical look on the stronghold of the patriarchal society in Pakistan and the impact of violent images, which appear regularly in all forms of media, on children. Butt’s elaborate drawings are obsessively crafted with passion and rigour, and create surfaces that hover between photography and embroidery.

Her mid-career retrospective Paracosm opened at the New Art Exchange in April 2015. It travelled to the Art Exchange at the University of Essex in November 2015, then opening at the Attenborough Centre of Arts (University of Leicester) in October 2016, as the final chapter of its tour. The specially commissioned installation ‘Paracosm’ was shown at the Alchemy Festival at South Bank, London in May 2017.

Her much-awaited next solo exhibition will be held at Rossi & Rossi, Hong Kong, in 2023. She has had various solo shows, including Grosvenor Gallery, London (2021); the Attenborough Art Centre, UK (2016); the Art Exchange, UK (2015); Rossi & Rossi, London (2014); Canvas Gallery, Karachi (2014); Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2012); and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York (2012), among others. In 2021, a solo presentation of her paintings and sculptures was shown by Vadehra Art Gallery at Art Basel OVR: Portals.

She has also participated in many group shows, including Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021); Grosvenor Gallery, London (2020); Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts (2020); New Arts Exchange, Nottingham (2019); Aicon Gallery, New York (2019); Free World Centre, London (2016); Gujral Foundation, New Delhi (2015); Leila Heller Chelsea Gallery, New York (2014); SOAS, University of London (2014); and the Contemporary Arts Centre, Boston (2013), among others.

Her work has been extensively shown in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and the United States and exhibited at various art fairs, including the India Art Fair, Art Dubai, Colombo Art Biennale and the Hong Kong Art Fair. Her work can also be found in private and public collections, including the British Museum, London; the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; and the Burger Collection, Hong Kong, to name a few.

Butt was awarded a UNESCO-Aschberg Bursary and was artist-in-residence at the Bartle Arts Trust (BAT) in Durban, South Africa, in 1995. She was nominated for the Jameel Prize by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 2011, and was a finalist for the Sovereign Art Prize, Hong Kong, in 2009.

The artist lives and works in London, UK.