Spring 2025 | The South Asia Art Initiative Artist in Residence at UC Berkeley
Lahore-based internationally acclaimed artist Imran Qureshi will be the SAAI Artist in Residence at UC Berkeley in Spring 2025. Rooted in the tradition of Mughal miniature painting, Qureshi’s contemporary practice encompass figurative and abstract works on paper, monumental paintings, and site-specific installations including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden Commission. Faculty, students, and community members will have the opportunity to interact with Qureshi during his talk and hands-on workshop that he will conduct while he is in residence at Cal as part of SAAI’s collaboration with the Lahore Biennale Foundation.
EVENTS
Thursday April 24
- 2-3:30pm: BAMPFA Viewing Session
Visit to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive to study miniature paintings in the museum’s collection with Imran Qureshi, faculty, and students. - 4:00-5:00pm: SAAI Artist in Residence Reception, 10 Stephens Hall (Open to the public)
- 5-6:30pm: Artist’s Talk, 10 Stephens Hall (Open to the public)
Moderator: Sugata Ray, Associate Professor, South and Southeast Asian Art, History of Art Department at UC Berkeley.
Friday Apr 25
- 6 pm: SAAI Artist-in-Residence Reception (By invitation only)
Between History and the Present: Contemporary Art from Pakistan
A fireside conversation between Imran Qureshi and Qudsia Rahim, Co-founder and Executive Director, Lahore Biennale Foundation
Introductions: Munis D. Faruqui, Director, Institute for South Asia Studies and Faculty Lead, The Berkeley Pakistan Initiative
Venue: South Bay
Saturday Apr 26
- 1:00pm: Materials and Practice: A Workshop with Imran Qureshi (By RSVP only)
120 Anthropology and Art Practice Building
Moderator: Asma Kazmi, Associate Professor, Department of Art Practice
Open to UC Berkeley students only. Please RSVP here to join the workshop.
POSTER
ABOUT THE ARTIST

The fragile beauty of Qureshi's work is modulated by socio-political reflections on contemporary life. The colour red is a clear allusion to the lifeblood that flows through our veins, while his flower motifs evoke the possibility of renewal and growth. A sense of balance is maintained between the dualities explored in these works, such as violence and beauty or death and regeneration, which are shown as opposing yet intertwined forces. For the artist, 'the flowers that emerge from the paint represent the hope that – despite everything – the people sustain somehow their hope for a better future'. Using the representational techniques of miniature painting to depict our modern reality, Qureshi's work speaks in part to the friction of a world in which novelty collides daily with orthodoxy.
