BIO
Kishwar Kiani GBA (b. Pakistan) is a visual artist and educator. She is a recipient of the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award and a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, London. A Chevening Scholar, she completed her MA in Drawing at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London.
Her work has been exhibited internationally across London, New Delhi, Mumbai, Colombo and Lahore, including at the South London Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, the NCA Triennale at the National College of Arts and KALA South Asia.
STATEMENT
I read scaffolds the way others read faces.
My practice is built around one obsession, structure under pressure. What holds. What bends. What looks stable from the outside and is already giving way within. I work across drawing and welding, between the architectural and the organic, because the same tension lives in both. Both are defined entirely by the forces acting on them. What contains something shapes it just as much as what builds it.
I grew up as a Muslim in Pakistan where everything felt load-bearing, and I have spent most of my life being precisely that, present, invisible, holding things up for people who never once look at what is beneath them. The scaffold was not a subject I chose. It chose me. Outdated structures do not collapse on their own. Someone is always holding them up.
Drawing is where I think. Sculpture is where it lands. What looks chaotic from a distance is a constant dialogue with the material, and with myself.
I want the viewer to feel like a bystander. Present for the collapse, unable to stop it, not sure they would even if they could. That uncertainty is not innocent.
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
Member, Public Statues and Sculpture Association UK since 2025
Member, Royal Society of Sculptors UK since 2024
Chevening Alumni, UK Government Chevening Scholarship Programme since 2021
CV
2020 - 2021 - MA Fine Art - Camberwell College of Arts (University of Arts London), UK
2007 - 2011 - BFA - Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan
EXHIBITIONS
2026 - ‘John Ruskin Art Prize 2026’ - Trinity Bouy Wharf, London
2026 - ‘Shared Ground’ - KALA South Asia, Colombo
2025 - ’NCA Triennale Show’ - National College of Arts, Lahore
2025 - ’Art Mumbai’ - Art Incept, Mumbai
2025 - ‘Beyond DNA’ - Tanzara Gallery, Islamabad
2025 - ‘From Point to Infinity’ - Shridharani Gallery, Triveni, New Delhi
2025 - ‘Gilbert Bayes Award Show’, The Art House, Wakefield
2025 - ‘Dot. Line. Shape’ - O Art Space, Lahore
2025 - ‘Gilbert Bayes Award Show’ - Royal Society of Sculptors, London
2025 - ‘India Art Fair’ - Art Incept, New Delhi
2024 - ‘For outcome of outcome’ - Sanat Initiative, Karachi
2024 - ‘Back to Basics’ - Articulate Studios, Lahore
2024 - ‘To be or Not to be’ - Numaish Gah, Lahore
2024 - ‘MK Calling’ - MK Gallery, Milton Keynes
2024 - ‘Memory Keepers - India Art Fair Parallel’ - Art Incept, Gurgaon
2023 - ‘Conquering the White Space II’ - Khaas Contemporary, Islamabad
2023 - ‘World Within, World Without’ - Art Incept, IF.Be Ballard Estate, Mumbai
2023 - ‘Inception Grant 2023 Finalist Show'- Art Incept , New Delhi
2022 - ‘Eve’s I/ Eye II’ - Sanat Initiative, Karachi
2022 - 'Finalist Exhibition/Visual Art Open' - Unit 1 Gallery, London
2022 - 'Sculptor/Sculpture' - COMO Museum, Lahore
2022 - 'Shortlisted for Drawing of the Year 2021 Competition' - Archisource, London
2021 - 'Coded Iconic - Room III - Virtual Exhibition' - The Holy Art, London
2021 - 'Now - Grad Show' - Saatchi Gallery, London
2021 - 'MA Fine Art Graduate Showcase' - South London Gallery, London
2021 - 'Unmute' - Copeland Gallery, London
2019 - 'Sunny Art Prize - Exchange Program' - Harmony Art Gallery, Shanghai
2018 - 'The Art of Creation' - Patchogue Arts Council, New York
2018 - 'Barcelona Art Prize' - Cage Gallery, Barcelona
2018 - 'Art Takes Soho' - See Me, New York
2018 - 'Sunny Art Prize' - Sunny Art Centre, London
2018 - 'Thresholds' - Gonzo Unit, Thessaloniki
2017 - ‘Onrushing 2’ - Gallery 6, Islamabad
2017 - 'Textures, Forms & Colours' - Nukta Studios, Rawalpindi
2017 - 'The Arjumand Award 2017' - Pakistan National Council of Arts, Islamabad
2012 - ‘10th Emerging Talent 2012' - VM Art Gallery, Karachi
2012 - 'Winds of Change' - Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore
FEATURES AND PUBLICATIONS
2026 - Life Online, ‘Shared Grounds’ - KALA 2026 - TAKE on Art x KALA
2025 - Artist Talk - Kishwar Kiani at Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts
2025 - Youlin Magazine, ‘Beyond DNA: A Project of Studio RM’
2024 - Art Now, ‘Which Heaven Will You Enter?’
2024 - The News International , ‘Decoding the Tesseract’
2024 - Art Now, ‘Curating the Cube’
2024 - The Arts Family London: Finalist’s Artist Profile
2024 - The Voice of Fashion, ‘Broken Threads and Drawing Home from Memory’
2024 - India Art Fair, ‘Memory Keepers II’
2024 - Youlin Magazine, ‘Art Review: To be or Not to be at Numaish Gah’
2024 - Dawn, ‘ Need stressed for protecting Pakistani art in an interconnected world’
2023 - Youlin Magazine, ‘Art review: Conquering the While Space II at Khaas Contemporary’
2023 - Boynes, ‘Monthly Art Award’
2022 - Nitram Fine Art Charcoal, ‘Featured Artist'‘
2022 - Youlin Magazine, ‘Sculpture at COMO Museum of Art’
2019 - David AL, ‘Exhibition at Harmony Art Gallery - Shanghai’
2018 - Patchogue Arts Council, ‘Art of Creation’
2017 - The News International, ‘The Onrushing 2’
2017 - The Express Tribune, ‘ Eight talented artists to showcase their work in capital’
AWARDS
2026 - Finalist - John Ruskin Art Prize
2024 - Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award
2024 - Finalist - The Arts Family London Emerging Art Prize
2024 - Nigaah Art Award - Emerging Female Artist
2023 - Finalist for Art Incept’s Inception Grant
2020 - 2021 Chevening Scholarship Award
RESIDENCIES
2025 - Resident artist at the Inaugural National College of Arts Triennale, Lahore, Pakistan