Khadim Ali (Urdu: خادم علی, born in Queta, Pakistan, 1978) is an Australian painter of
Afghan
Afghan or Afgan may refer to:
Related to Afghanistan
*Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...
descent, a member of the
Hazara ethnic group.
Early life and education
Khadim Ali was born in 1978 in the Pakistani city of
Quetta
Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
to a family of refugees from
Bamiyan Province in Afghanistan, who belonged to the Hazara ethnic minority. He grew up in Pakistan close to the Afghanistan border.As a child he was exposed to the beauty of
Ferdowsi
Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...
's Persian epic 10th-century poetic work ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...
'' (''Book of Kings''), which his grandfather sung, and the miniature paintings that illustrated it.
He studied
Mughal miniature painting at the
National College of Arts
The National College of Arts (colloquially known as NCA) is a public university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
Overview
The National College of Arts – Federally Chartered Institute, is the oldest art school in Pakistan and the second ...
in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
, and
calligraphy
Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
at
Tehran University
The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...
in Iran.
[
]
Career
After being a guest artist at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
is a museum of Asian art that opened in Hakata, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1999. The collection of modern and contemporary art comprises some three thousand works from twenty-three countries.
See also
* Fukuoka Prefectural Museum ...
in Fukuoka
is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...
, Japan in 2006, in 2010 Ali moved to Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia. In 2012 he graduated with a master's degree in arts from the University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949.
The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
.
Practice and themes
Using classical Mughal miniature methods, Ali drew new illustrations for ''Shahanama''. He uses images from history, poetry, mythology and politics to investigate through art the events of the wars in Afghanistan, the persecution, exile and discrimination, and the loss caused by destruction of culture. He references the Buddhas of Bamiyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan (, ) were two monumental Buddhist statues in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, built possibly around the 6th-century. Located to the northwest of Kabul, at an elevation of , carbon dating of the structural components o ...
, huge statues that were destroyed in March 2001 by Taliban extremists.[
]
Exhibitions
In 2006 the artist participated in the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
, and in 2012 at the Documenta
Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany.
Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...
exhibition of contemporary art in Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
, Germany.
In February–March 2018, Ali's work was included in an exhibition curated by Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and Nur Shkembi, called ''Waqt al-tagheer: Time of change'' at ACE Open, Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
as part of the Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
. The exhibition showcased the work of 11 Muslim Australian artists, including Abdul-Rahman's brother Abdul Abdullah and photographic artist Hoda Afshar
Hoda Afshar (born 1983) is an Iranian documentary photographer who is based in Melbourne. She is known for her 2018 prize-winning portrait of Kurdish-Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who suffered a long imprisonment in the Manus Island detentio ...
.
Work by Ali is in the collection of the Sharjah Art Foundation
The Sharjah Art Foundation () is a contemporary art and cultural foundation based in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern ...
.
In November 2023 participated in a major group exhibition Voice Against Reason Museum MACAN along with others 23 artists from Australia, Bangladesh, India Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
References