ABOUT
Shumaiya Khan, b 1990. Paint, sculpture and installation. My practice explores the connection between metaphysical states and physical organic bodies. Investigated via recurring instinctual abstract and iconographic forms across painting and sculpture.
Key contextual themes revolve around feminine origin ancient mythologies, the great mother archetype, mysticism and animism; which ask me to consider my past self’s journey within spiritual realms. This further brings questions on my everyday position on the current socio-political landscape the feminine I am finds herself in, while acknowledging facades inherited from industrialised patriarchal worlds, content on upholding external accolades over the human expression and condition. My practice aims to unveil the natural worlds which live within us, both in the physical and as collective knowledge and memory.
References can mirror familiar forms found in human bodies; veins, fat and muscular systems; as well as concealed elemental surfaces and landscapes found in forests, caves, and quarries. Works are often bodily in scale and proportion; forms and environments which appear to grow, erode or age.
Produced with oil, salt, ceramic, and textile. Paintings and sculptures emerge through repeated layering, washing away, rebuilding oil paint mixed with salt; creating visceral, full-bodied, and textured surfaces. The resulting works are installed as immersive environments. Stretched and folded paintings, suspended with ribbons or supported by treated wood structures, alongside ceramic sculptures. Exhibiting both the record of my body at work and a mythic opening and reconstructing to a more abstracted body.
CV
EDUCATION
MA Fine Art. City and Guilds London School of Art. ‘24 - ’25
BA Hons Design. Goldsmiths University of London ‘09 - ‘13
Foundation in Art & Design, Leeds College of Art ‘08 - ‘09
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Gold in the Forest, Solo, curated S. Crosland-Goss. 67 Pall Mall, London. October 2023 - March 2024
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
TUFAN, seven artist group show as part of Backyard Biennial at Whitechapel Gallery, Gallery 5. Co-curated by Oitij-jo. London, July - September 2026
Auction, ‘Flesh of The Palm’ 2025, Curated by Vittoria Beltrame for Bonhams.Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art Department, June 2026.
PAPERCUT, group show, curated by Danny Rolph. London.
21st May - 31st August 2026
A line has time in it, group show, by Carta Magna. London.
April 2026
London Art Fair group presentation, Encouter Stage via Zarastro Art, London. January 2026
Rituals, group show, curated by 2uesday Supper Club, London. October 2025
MAFA Graduate Show, group show, City and Guilds London School of Art, London. September 2025
Emerging Voices, group show, RFSA Foundation, Brompton Cemetary, London. June 2025
Auto Amor Project One, group show, Auto Amor, Dunton Green, Kent. March 2025
MFA Interim Show, group show, City and Guilds London School of Art, London. March 2025
Auction ‘Afterparty’ 2023, Terrance Higgins Trust,
Christie’s. April 2024.
Perfected Imperfections, group show, collaboration with Kaecen, artistic perfume house. Covent Garden London. 28th October 2023.
Plurality Now : New Futures, curated by Segolene Py.
London. September 2023.
UNMUTE : Artists Stories Heard. Via Interrupted Art.
Somerset House, London. 8th June 2023..
Dreamland, Galeria Azur Madrid, Spain. November 2022.
Seeing Abstraction, Galeria Azur Madrid, Spain. June 2022.
Ajkar by Oitij-Jo, London. February - March 2022.
RESIDENCIES
UNARCHIVED, Redchurch Street Studio, Soho House. London. Residency. November 2022.
London Design District 2021 - 2023
SELECT HONOURS / PUBLICATIONS / AWARDS
On Reading Audre and The Divine Creative Act, essay commissioned by HandsOn Projects. June 2026
Extended long list. Jackson’s Art Prize 2026.
Becoming the Second Body: A Visual Essay by Shumaiya Khan, Commissioned by Obtuse Archive. February 2023.
Trustee, Oitij-jo Trust March 2023 - May 2025 Chair Trustee.
‘A Year’ by Shumaiya Khan. Debut book of poetry 2020-21, published by Olympia Publishers. 2024.
Daily Sugar Selected for Abstract Spotlight, Curated by Affordable Art Fair, for Battersea, Autumn Edition via Art Friend.
107 Female Artists You Need To Know in 2023, Curated by Lucy Donovan, girlandgallery.com
Longlist for VOA23 UK & International Emerging Artist Award
Featured in the Sunday Times Style ‘Art For Affordability’s Sake’
via Interrupted Art. July 2023
Featured Art, Dawn Part II, 2020, Spaces Magazine via Interrupted Art. May 2023
Longlist for VOA23 UK & International Emerging Artist Award
30 Women In The Future London Academy Who Are Making Waves, The Future Academy, March 2023.
99 Future Blup-Chip Artists, 2023 Edition Award, Curated by Artsed.com
Girl & Gallery, January 2023 Filmed interview, curated by Lucy Donovan
BLUP50 2022-23, July 2022. Selected for cohort, interview. Studio Blup, London.
Shortlist for VOA21 UK & International Emerging Artist Award
COLLECTIONS
Work held in private collections across Brazil, USA, UK, Spain, France, UAE and Australia.
TO PURCHASE
Contact regarding the full list of available works, commissions, and studio visits via email.