Abdullah Qureshi
Lahore, Pakistan
As a visual artist, Abdullah Qureshi is interested in the history of painting, in particular abstract expressionism, experimenting to expand the liminal space between abstraction and representation. Along with this, questions of personal history, childhood memories and processing a traumatic past have been key concerns for him. Building upon this, more recently, taking the format of a visual diary, through portraiture Qureshi has been interested in investigating ideas of masculinity, sexuality and intimacy amongst other things. Qureshi’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He is the founder of Gallery 39K, and from 2013 – 2016, Qureshi worked as the Senior Consultant Arts at British Council, as well as visiting faculty at the National College of Arts and Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design. He is currently an Art and International Cooperation fellow at Zurich University of Arts, researching and developing ideas of queerness in Pakistan, and a doctoral candidate at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Finland.