The 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize has shortlisted two Pakistani female artists. Ayessha Quraishi and Marium Agha were picked from over 400 applicants for a prestigious art prize. The finalists represent 16 countries and regions in Asia-Pacific.
Marium Agha (nominee for a prestigious art prize)
Marium Agha (b. 1982, Pakistan) received a BFA from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Pakistan (2006), an MFA from the University of The Arts London, Central Saint Martins, London (2009), and a certificate in Curating Contemporary Art from Chelsea School of Art and Design in London (2009). The artist finds a safe technique in dismantling components of popular culture that no longer legitimise current sensibilities by examining the unrelenting nature of love for over a decade through photographs, philosophy, and the self. Agha’s deconstructed tapestries, drawings, and text help to produce newer, more current tales about the ‘given real,’ i.e. love, and the ostensibly representational, i.e. flesh concupiscence.
Ayessha Quraishi (nominee for a prestigious art prize)
Ayessha Quraishi (b. 1970, Pakistan) has worked in a style that has come naturally to her from childhood, her approach resembling braille. She is always in physical contact with two materials: the surface and the paint.
The Sovereign Asian Art Prize was established in 2003 to raise cash for programmes that benefit impoverished children through the use of expressive arts while also increasing international exposure for Asian artists. The Prize, which is currently held yearly, is Asia-Pacific’s most recognized and distinguished annual art award.
