Naz Ikramullah Ashraf (née Naz Ikramullah) is a British-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist and film producer of Pakistani-Bengali origin.

Background

Ikramullah was born in London,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to a Muslim family. Her father, Mohammed Ikramullah, later became the first Foreign Secretary of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and her Bengali mother, Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, was one of the first Muslim women to become a politician and diplomat in the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Her mother, who later served as a Delegate to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and an

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, was a member of the Suhrawardy family of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She became a Mohajir by moving to West Pakistan, though many of her prominent relatives remained in

and others remained in what would become

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Amongst her relatives she could count

Mohammad Hidayatullah Mohammad Hidayatullah (; 17 December 1905 – 18 September 1992) was an eminent Indian people, Indian jurist, scholar, linguist, educationist, writer and politician, statesman who served as the acting President of India on two different occasio ...

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

and Chief Justice of India and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Premier of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

and Prime Minister of Pakistan. Her siblings include a brother and two sisters: Inam Ikramullah, Salma Sobhan and Princess Sarvath El Hassan of

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. She settled in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the 1970s and was married to the prominent

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

short story writer and novelist, Syed Moin Ashraf, until he died in 2003. He claimed to have descended from the

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Saint Ashraf Jahangir Semnani and some of his stories include ''Fatherhood'' and ''Reborn''. Together, they have a daughter named Aamna.

Education

Ikramullah was trained as an artist at the

Byam Shaw School of Art The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by Byam Shaw, John Liston Bya ...

( BFA) and later specialized in

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London.

Career

Ikramullah designed and wrote a filmstrip for the NFB film ''Making Faces'', which won the First Prize for Art Education in Oakland,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1989. She also completed a film regarding the cultural life of Muslim women of the Indian Subcontinent. She teaches painting and printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art. In a review of Ikramullah's 1994 solo exhibition, Nancy Baele of the ''Ottawa Citizen'' wrote that "Her paintings and prints...reflect her view that Canada fosters an interior life, Karachi an exterior one. She merges the two through collage, a layered look and the compositional constants of architectural arches and cloaked figures to create an emotional tone of dream-like reverie." In ''Art India'', Pakistani art critic Quddus Mirza describes Ikramullah as belonging to a wave of Pakistani diasporic artists. Her prints and collages are in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the National Gallery of

and the Cartwright Gallery in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, among others. In 2014, Ikramullah published a book (with accompanying DVD) about interconnections between Hindu and Muslim cultures called ''Ganga Jamuni, Silver and Gold: A Forgotten Culture'' (Toronto: Bayeux Arts, Inc; Dhaka: Bengal Publications, 2013). One reviewer described how Ikramullah's "Westernised education but Ganga-Jamuni moorings helped her in appreciating music, fine arts and the traditional embroidery and designs on clothes."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikramullah, Naz Alumni of the Byam Shaw School of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from Karachi Artists from London Artists from Ottawa Canadian people of Pakistani descent Canadian people of Bengali descent Living people Suhrawardy family Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Bengalis 20th-century Bengalis Muhajir people