Shireen Ikramullah (CV)

Shireen Ikramullah is a Pakistani/British artist, art critic, educator and museologist with a background in painting and printmaking. She completed her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore in 2006 and began working at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (National Art Gallery) in Islamabad. Her core assignment was to assist the Head of the Visual Arts department with the inauguration of the gallery. She went on to work at the Rohtas Gallery in Islamabad as the co-curator for several shows.

In 2009, she completed her Masters in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from The University of Manchester, which included an internship at the Manchester Museum to profile gallery visitors and assess improvements.

She is an active member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) and writer for several art publications worldwide like NuktaArt Magazine, Art Radar (Hong Kong), ArtNow Pakistan and the DAWN newspaper Gallery section.

Based in Europe since 2017, Shireen continues to maintain her own visual art practice, participating in several exhibitions across Pakistan and other countries. She is, in parallel, working with international artists to curate shows in Pakistan as a means of building stronger bridges for sharing of culture and knowledge.

Artist Statement

It is in the subconscious mind that thoughts and desires take shape and this brings us into vibrational harmony with our desires so that they can manifest into the physical and experiential reality. One cannot experience anything unless one is in vibrational harmony with that which one is experiencing. Everything being experienced is a direct result of one’s thoughts and of being in vibrational harmony with that thought experience.

One questions him/herself, who he/ she is, his/her surroundings, focus, anticipations, goals and experiences. Nature emotionally infiltrates me, it may not in the realistic sense but its surreal and dreamlike qualities and virtues do. I would refer to my paintings as abstract landscapes of the human mind, body and nature’s landscapes in the literal appreciation. An infusion of colour, texture, line and form portrayed through expressive gestural movements are perceived to be volatile and unpredictable yet some factors define tranquillity.  Being stuck in a world full of dos and don’ts, rights and wrongs all governed by social norms and patterns, delving into a domain of contrasting embankments and forces of nature, my inner human world closely resembles the outer natural world.  This is my inspiration to be creative.