About

Mahwish Chishty (b. 1980)

Mahwish Chishty is a Pakistani born artist based in the United States whose practice bridges traditional South Asian craft with contemporary art and politics. Trained in Mughal, Persian, and Indian miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, she later earned an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her practice expands miniature painting into a multidisciplinary language that includes installation, video, and conceptual work.

Chishty’s research based projects explore questions of identity, borders, and cultural memory, informed by her transnational upbringing across Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Her work has critically engaged with folk art traditions, women’s labor, and contemporary geopolitics. She has exhibited internationally at institutions including the Imperial War Museum in London, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Villa Empain in Brussels, and Gandhara Art Gallery in Karachi. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Guggenheim Fellow, with works held in major public and private collections worldwide.