Aiza Ahmed (b. 1997, Lahore, Pakistan) is an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and video. Her practice engages borders, migrations, public histories, and private archives within diasporic identities originating from the Indian Subcontinent. Interweaving humor and performance, Ahmed constructs theatrical compositions drawn from archival and cultural sources that unsettle fixed ideas of nationhood, masculinity, and belonging. She is drawn to the spectrum of masculinity, those who project power and those forced to perform it.
Ahmed received her MFA (Painting) from Rhode Island School of Design (2024) and BFA from Cornell University (2020). Her debut New York solo show, The Music Room, was presented at Sargent's Daughters (2025), followed by a solo presentation, Footnotes, at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar (2026). She has exhibited internationally and her work is held in public collections including the RISD Museum and Brown University, among others. Ahmed is the recipient of the 2025 Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant, including the Peter Hort Award recognition. She has participated in residencies with William Kentridge and the Centre for the Less Good Idea, The Macedonia Institute, Chatham, NY; Silver Art Projects, New York; and the Arts Intensive Study Program at Fire Station, Doha, Qatar.
Aiza Ahmed
b. Lahore, Pakistan, 1997; Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
EDUCATION
2024 Master of Fine Arts, Painting, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), RI, USA
2020 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Cornell University, Architecture, Art, and Planning, Ithaca, NY, USA (Dean’s List)
Minors in Art History & Business
2018 Cornell AAPNYC, Semester Abroad in NYC, NY, USA
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026 Footnotes, Art Basel Qatar, Sargent’s Daughters, Doha, Qatar
2025 The Music Room, Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY
Border Play, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY (curated by Indira A. Abiskaroon)
No father—no frontier, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA (curated by Protyasha Pandey)
2019 Unsung Heroes, Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Body Language, Hilton Garden Inn, Ithaca, NY
Color Relations, The Experimental Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Time-pass, Half Gallery, New York, NY [forthcoming]
Imagining Elsewhere, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA [forthcoming]
2025 Portals, Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, VA (curated by Donna Honarpisheh)
India Art Fair, Chemould CoLab, Chemould Prescott Road, India
The Big Fat South Asian Show, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2024 Parable of the Planes, NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Exhibition space, New York, NY (curated by Mari Spirito, Protocinema, & Tamara Khasanova)
MFA Painting Thesis Show, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA
RISD Graduate Show, RI Convention Center, Providence, RI
What Lovers Do: RISD MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (curated by Zoé Samudzi)
Now Streaming, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles, California
2023 First Person, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY
Painting with Butter, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
Really From, NYC Culture Club & Jambhekar/Cruz, New York, NY
2022 Graduate Painting Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Action, New Collectors Gallery, New York, NY
I Shouted my Laughter to the Stars, Aicon Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Judith Has Arrived, Aicon Gallery, New York, NY
Ladies Who Lunch, Dominion Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Ghost of Presence, Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, NY (curated by Monika Fabijanska)
In A Look, VM Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2020 Fight Coronavirus & Artist Aid, Silent Auction, Christie’s New York, NY
Educate, A Charity Exhibition at Christie’s, New York, NY
BFA Thesis Gallery, Cornell Council for the Arts, New York, NY
Personal Space, Collective 131, Saratoga Springs, NY
2019 Coalesce, The Experimental Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
The BFA Show, Olive Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2018 Landlords, AAPNYC Gallery, New York, NY
Seeing Red, AAPNYC Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Going Dutch: A Rembrandt Soirée, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY
From The Dark, Olive Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
RESIDENCIES
2025-26 Silver Art Projects, New York, NY
The Arts Intensive Study Program (directed by Wael Shawky), Fire Station, Doha, Qatar
2024 The Macedonia Institute, Chatham, NY
William Kentridge & The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Brown Arts Institute, Providence, RI
GRANTS & AWARDS
2025 Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant
Peter Hort Emerging Artist Award
2024 Graduate Commons Grant Fellowship, Providence, RI
AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship Nominee, Providence, RI
2022-2024 Rhode Island School of Design Fellowship, Providence, RI
2019 The Edith Stone and Walter King Memorial Prize, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2018 David R. Bean Prize in Fine Arts, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
COLLECTIONS
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Miami, FLRISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, US
Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University, Providence, RI, US
VM Art Gallery Permanent Collection, Karachi, Pakistan
VISITING ARTIST AND SELECTED LECTURES
2026 Artsy — Artist Talk, All-Staff Meeting
2025 The Music Room, in conversation with Debashree Mukherjee and Ria Modak, Sargent's Daughters, New York, NY
Portals: Donna Honarpisheh in conversation with Aiza Ahmed, Aryana Minai & Shyama Golden MoCA Arlington, Arlington, VA —
Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program — Studio visits with residents
2024 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI — Lecture
2022 Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY — Lecture
PUBLICATIONS
2026 The Music Room, Sargent’s Daughters [forthcoming]
2024 On noses, pomp, and drama (self-published)
2022 At the Table, AAPI Awareness Fundraising Exhibition, Christie’s NY