:Huma Mulji

Huma Mulji was born in 1970 in Karachi, Pakistan. In 1995, she completed a BFA at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan, and in 2010, received an MFA from Transart Institute in Berlin, Germany.{{cite web |last1=Mirza |first1=Quddus |title=Between artists and their artwork |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/568671-artists-artwork |publisher=The News on Sunday |access-date=27 April 2020 |date=13 October 2019}}{{cite web |title=Huma Mulji |url=http://vaslart.org/huma-mulji/# |website=Vaslart.org |publisher=Vasl Artists' Association |access-date=7 July 2020}}{{cite web|url= https://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/studying/staff-profiles/huma-mulji |title=Huma Mulji |website=Plymouthart.ac.uk |access-date=13 July 2020}}

From 2003 to 2015, she was an associate professor at the School of Visual Arts, Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan.{{cite web|url= https://365bristol.com/event/international-artist-residency-on-9-feb |title=Discussion: International Artist Residencies at Spikes Island in Bristol on 9 February 2017 |website=365bristol.com |date=9 February 2017 |access-date=18 July 2020}} In 2016, she was a fellow at the Terra Foundation for American Art.{{Cite web |title=Terra Foundation Fellows |url=https://www.terraamericanart.org/fellows/#M |access-date=13 July 2020 |publisher=Terra Foundation for American Art}} She was Visiting Artist at the Goldsmiths' College, London, UK in 2015 to 2017. In 2017, Mulji received the Nigaah Art Award.{{cite web|url= https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1142358 |title=Nigaah Art Awards – Celebrating Pakistani art |publisher=Aurora |date=12 September 2017 |access-date=13 July 2020}}

She is currently Lecturer at the University of West of England, Bristol, UK,{{Cite web |title=Ms Huma Mulji |url=https://people.uwe.ac.uk/person/humamulji |publisher=UWE Bristol |access-date=13 July 2020}} and Lecturer, BA (Hons) Fine Art, at the Plymouth College of Art, UK.

Mulji's artworks were exhibited at Art Dubai in UAE,{{Cite book|last=Baler|first=Pablo|title=The Next Thing Art in the Twenty-First Century|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-61147-811-2|pages=53–66}} 10th Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, South Korea,{{Cite web |title=Huma Mulji |url=https://kunstaspekte.art/person/huma-mulji |website=Kunstaspekte.art |access-date=8 July 2020 |archive-date=10 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710122149/https://kunstaspekte.art/person/huma-mulji |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |first=Jason |last=Farago |title=Gwangju Biennale: an aggressive exhibition that electrifies South Korea |url= https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/09/gwangju-biennale-south-korea-exhibition-aggressive-art |website=The Guardian |date=9 September 2014|access-date=8 July 2020 }} 56th Venice Biennale in Italy, Karachi Biennale 2017,{{Cite web|title=Witnessing from afar: making sense of the Karachi Biennale|url=http://www.4a.com.au/4a_papers_article/witnessing-afar-making-sense-karachi-biennale/|access-date=25 June 2020|website=4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art|archive-date=9 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209052840/http://www.4a.com.au/4a_papers_article/witnessing-afar-making-sense-karachi-biennale/|url-status=dead}} in Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art in Spain,{{Cite web |title=In the Open or in Stealth : The Unruly Presence of an Intimate Future |url=https://www.macba.cat/en/exhibitions-activities/exhibitions/open-or-stealth |access-date=8 July 2020 |website=Macba.cat |publisher=Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona}} Asia Society Museum in New York,{{Cite web |first=Randy |last=Kennedy |title=Contradictions Remains Vital to Pakistan and Its Art |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/arts/design/03fire.html |website=The New York Times |date=2 September 2009 |access-date=18 July 2020 }} Saatchi Gallery in UK{{Cite web | title=Huma Mulji Exhibite dat the Saatchi Gallery |url=https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/huma_mulji.htm |website=Saatchigallery.com |publisher=Saatchi Gallery |access-date=18 July 2020 }} and Project 88 in Mumbai, India.{{Cite web |title=Huma Mulji : Project 88 Exhibition |url=http://project88.in/exhibition/4 |website=Project88.in |publisher=Project 88 |access-date=18 July 2020 |archive-date=18 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718063559/http://project88.in/exhibition/4 |url-status=dead }} Her solo exhibitions include High Rise, in Elementa Gallery, Dubai, UAE in 2009,{{Cite web |title=Huma Mulji: High Rise |url=https://universes.art/en/nafas/articles/2009/huma-mulji |access-date=8 July 2020 |website=Universes.art |publisher=Universes in Universe |date=June 2009}} Crystal Pallace and Other Follies in Rothas Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan in 2010, Twilight in Project 88, Mumbai, India in 2011,{{Cite web |first=Rachel |last=Murray |url=https://www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/huma-muljis-suspension-in-twilight/ |title=Huma Mulji's Suspension in Twilight |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=7 July 2020}} and A Country of Last Things in Koel Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan in 2016.{{Cite web |title=Huma Mulji |url=https://www.kbcuratorial.com/artists/huma-mulji |website=Kbcuratorial.com |publisher=Karachi Biennale 2017 | access-date=8 July 2020}}

Mulji's work characterizes how interpretations of culture, context, and cognition are held in creative tension. Drawing on the geography of visual culture that is part of her South Asian heritage, she opens up the politics of place,{{Cite book|last=Sullivan, Graeme, 1951-|title=Art practice as research : inquiry in visual arts|date=2010|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-7451-6|edition=2nd|location=Thousand Oaks [Calif.]|oclc=351322811}} engaging with the absurdities of existence and our casual acceptance of all that surrounds us.{{Cite book|last=Schonfeld, Roger C., 1977-|title=JSTOR : a history|date=2003|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4311-4|location=Princeton|oclc=777375664}} The state between two things is continuously played out in Mulji's work, which places itself somewhere between sculpture and painting, photography and installation.{{Cite book|title=Sneden, Eleanor Antoinette|date=2011-10-31|publisher=Oxford University Press|series=Benezit Dictionary of Artists|doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00171338}} The city, the everyday and the overlooked all serve as subjects in these deliberately awkward artworks.{{Cite web|title=Huma Mulji|url=https://www.kbcuratorial.com/artists/huma-mulji|access-date=2020-08-04|website=Karachi Biennale 2017|language=en}}

Her sculptural installation Arabian Delight (2008) refers to the aspects of economic migration, to the anticipations of the migrants and corresponding reality. The piece consists of a taxidermy camel stuffed into a suitcase and addresses also the Arabization of Pakistan.{{Cite web |url=https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/huma_mulji_arabian_delights.htm |title=HUMA MULJI, Arabian Delight (and details) |access-date=13 July 2020}} It was presented at Art Dubai in 2008, but was removed after a few days to avoid a controversial topic. The removal, however, brought even more publicity to the artwork.{{Cite book |editor-first=Graeme |editor-last=Sullivan |title=Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in Visual Arts |date=2010 |publisher=SAGE |isbn= 978-1-4129-7451-6 |oclc=351322811 |page=19}} The piece was bought by Charles Saatchi and became part of the collection of the Saatchi Gallery.

The title of her installation Ode to a Lamppost That Got Accidentally Destroyed in the Enthusiastic Widening of Canal Bank Road (2011–2017), exhibited at the Karachi Biennale 2017 (at Pioneer Book Store), refers to a central road in Lahore where Mulji lived. Its widening caused protests. This artwork comments heavy development that becomes obsolete when the priorities shift.{{Cite web |first=Aziz |last=Sohail |title=Witnessing from afar: making sense of the Karachi Biennale |url=http://www.4a.com.au/4a_papers_article/witnessing-afar-making-sense-karachi-biennale/ |website=4a.com.au |publisher=Centre for Contemporary Asian Art |access-date=8 July 2020 |archive-date=9 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209052840/http://www.4a.com.au/4a_papers_article/witnessing-afar-making-sense-karachi-biennale/ |url-status=dead }} During the Biennale, this work raised controversy.{{Cite web |first=Hamna |last=Zubair |title=An exhibit at the Karachi Biennale has sparked an intense debate about art and elitism |url=https://scroll.in/article/856705/an-exhibit-at-the-karachi-biennale-has-sparked-an-intense-debate-about-art-and-elitism |website=scroll.in | date=6 November 2017 |access-date=8 July 2020}} Mulji placed the pole so that it was difficult to navigate in the space. Aziz Sohail noted that it was Mulji's point to make a parallel to social inequality and to how the life of people is affected during the developmental projects. Hamna Zubair wrote:

{{Blockquote |In this way, the lamppost at Pioneer Book Store may just turn out to be the most authentic work at KB17, in that it organically sparked a much-need conversation about the privilege and social stratification the art world must navigate.}}

• {{cite book |last1=Chiu |first1=Melissa |last2=Genoschio |first2=Benjamin |title=Contemporary Asian Art |year=2010 | location=London |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-23874-5 |oclc=901248255}}
• {{cite book |last1=Baler |first1=Pablo |title=The next thing : art in the twenty-first century |year=2013 | location=Madison |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-1-61147-451-0 |oclc=828884554}}

• {{Official website|humamulji.com}}
• [https://artfacts.net/artist/huma-mulji/77434 Huma Mulji] at ArtFacts
• [https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/huma_mulji.htm Huma Mulji] at Saatchi Gallery
• [https://www.oneart.org/biographies/artist/huma-mulji Huma Mulji] at OneArt, Platform for contemporary art from Asia, Africa and Latin America

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Category:Pakistani contemporary artists

Category:Academics of the University of the West of England, Bristol

Category:Academic staff of Beaconhouse National University

Category:Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture alumni

Category:Artists from Lahore

Category:Pakistani photographers

Category:Pakistani women photographers

Category:Pakistani sculptors

Category:1970 births

Category:Living people

Category:Pakistani women academics

Category:21st-century Pakistani women artists

Category:Pakistani artists