About

Sobia Ahmad's interdisciplinary practice maps how the personal and the political intersect. By weaving personal and communal narratives with current and historical socio-political contexts, she highlights the inseparability of the self and larger power structures. The work poses questions like: What confirms or dissipates our sense of belonging? What effects do policies have on our individual and collective psyches? And how can our deeply intimate struggles of belonging inform larger conversations about national identity, notions of home, cultural memory, and gender?

Born and raised in Pakistan, Sobia Ahmad moved to the United States at the age of fourteen. She graduated in 2016 with Honors from the Bachelor’s in Studio Art Program at the University of Maryland College Park. Her work has been reviewed in several major publications such as Al Jazeera English, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post and has been included in multiple collections. She has exhibited internationally—including at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, New York, Queen Mary University in London, and the Women Filmmakers Festival at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC. Ahmad received a Vermont Studio Center fellowship award in 2018, was the 2019 recipient of the Next Generation/Sanctuary Artist Fellowship at VisArts in Rockville, MD, and was a 2019-2020 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow in Washington DC.

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EDUCATION

2015 B.S. Behavioral and Community Health (Magna Cum Laude)

2016 B.A. Studio Art Honors (Magna Cum Laude)

University of Maryland College Park

ARTIST RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS

2021 Visiting Artist and Teaching Fellowship, Groton School, MA

2020 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellowship, Washington DC

2019 Next Generation/Sanctuary Artist Fellowship at VisArts, Rockville, MD

2018 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Arquetopia Artist Residency, Puebla, MX

Sanctuaries DC, Art for Social Impact Fellowship, Washington DC

AWARDS & GRANTS

2020 Wherewithal Research Grant, Andy Warhol Foundation and Washington Project for the Arts, Washington DC

F.E.A.S.T. Grant, VisArts, Rockville, MD

Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Semifinalist, Baltimore, MD

NextNOW Fest, Visual Arts Alumni Commission Award, University of Maryland College Park, MD

Catharsis Community Engagement Project Grant

2019 Allies for Justice Award, Asian Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project, Washington DC

2018 Visual Arts Fellowship Award, Vermont Studio Center

2017 Juror’s Award, Shout, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (Juror: Patricia Nguyen)

2016 Creative and Performing Arts Scholarship, University of Maryland, Department of Art

Sadat Art for Peace Purchase Award

Third Place, Colonel Wharton Award, Graduating Senior Show, University of Maryland, Department of Art

2015 Sadat Art for Peace Purchase Award

SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2020 Conversations: Over Circles, with Monroe Isenberg, Cultivate Projects, Kensington, MD (Two-person exhibition)

2019 wherever you are is called Here, VisArts, Rockville MD (Solo exhibition)

Conversations: Over Circles, with Monroe Isenberg, Lunga School, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland (Two-person exhibition)

Imbrications, Gallery 102 at Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, Washington DC (Solo exhibition)

I know where I've been, Catalyst Contemporary, Baltimore, MD (Two-person exhibition)

2018 Small Identities, Common Ground Gallery, Rockville, MD (Solo exhibition)

Mirrored Re-Collection, Stamp Gallery at the University of Maryland College Park, MD (Two-person exhibition)

MUSEUM GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 Women Filmmakers Festival, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

American Muslim Futures, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, Honolulu, HI

Art Salon, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

2019 how the light gets in, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY

2018 A (Good) American, Heurich House Museum, Washington DC

2017 Focus Iran 2: Contemporary Photography and Video, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 Empathy Zone, Contemporary Art Mover, Beijing, China (Sister Cities Cultural Exchange: Beijing & Washington DC)

High Frequency, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington DC

Women in the Arts: Latela Curatorial, Washington DC

Patterning, Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center, Hyattsville, MD

Epilogue, Halcyon Arts Lab, Washington DC

Something Edgeless, Something Spectral, Waller Gallery & Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

Authentic Realities, Catalyst Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, MD

The Garden of Forking Paths, Current Space, Baltimore, MD

2019 Foreword, Halcyon Arts Lab, Washington DC

on tender ground, Current Space, Baltimore, MD

Times of Perception, Stevenson University, School of Deign, Pikesville, MD

School 33 40th Anniversary Invitation Exhibition, School 33 Arts Center, Baltimore, MD

Transformer 16th Annual Auction, Corcoran School of Art and Design, Washington DC

Women of the World, Gallery Three at Takoma Park Community Center, Takoma Park, MD

Honor the Spirit, Sanctuaries Gallery, The Festival Center, Washington DC

Alchemical Vessels 2019, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Washington DC

VidArt Auction, The Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC

Incandescent Bloom, ASHA for Women 30th anniversary gala, Washington DC

2018 Loud Silence: Expressions of Activism, Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, PA

Transformer 15th Annual Auction, Corcoran School of Art and Design, Washington DC

Border (Untitled), Cody Gallery, Marymount University, Arlington, VA

Human Nature, Gallery 110, Seattle, WA (Juror: Sara Krajewski)

Elixir: Artists Respond to Making and Healing, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Washington DC

Vox Lacunae, Stamp Gallery, University of Maryland College Park, MD

2017 Shout, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (Juror: Patricia Nguyen)

Create/Change, Hillyer Art Space, Washington DC (Juror: Mary Early)

Out/Side & In/Between, School 33, Baltimore, MD (Juror: Jarvis DuBois)

Islamic Art Revival Series: 6th Annual Juried International Contemporary Islamic Art Exhibition, Irving Art Center, Irving, TX (Juror: Dr. Linda Komaroff)

Photography as Response, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO (Juror: Christy Havranek)

Wet Paint, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA (Juror: Harry Cooper)

Home, Lubzenik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN (Jurors: Emanuel Aguilar & Julia Fischbach)

Royal Trash, Queen Mary University, London, UK

2016 Typecast, Hillyer Art Space, DC (Juror: Jarvis DuBois)

Gen-Y 3.0, VisArts, Rockville, MD

Drawing Board, The Stamp Gallery, College Park, MD

UMD Honors Thesis Show, Herman Maril Gallery, College Park, MD

I Never See You, Brentwood Arts Center, Brentwood, MD

2015 In Response: Conversations Between Emerging Artists and Contemporary Work, The Stamp Gallery, College Park, MD

Continuing Legacies: Old Masters and New Apprentices, Herman Maril Gallery, College Park, MD

LECTURES & TALKS

2021 Mudge Fellow Campus-wide Artist Lecture, Groton School, MA (Upcoming)

Guest Artist Lecture, Integrative Studio Design Course, Parsons, The New School, New York, NY (Upcoming)

2020 Women Filmmakers Festival Artist Panel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Visual Arts Alumni Commission Lecture, NextNOW Fest, University of Maryland College Park, MD

Guest Artist Lecture, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD

Guest Artist Lecture, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN

Guest Artist Lecture, Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU Fibers Department, Richmond, VA

Guest Artist Lecture, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

Guest Artist Lecture, Integrative Studio Design Course, Parsons, The New School, New York, NY

Guest Artist Lecture, Advanced Design Seminar, Parsons, The New School, New York, NY

Guest Artist Lecture: Art, Trauma, and Activism, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

2019 The Art of Exposure: Double Exposure Film Festival, Eaton Workshop, Washington DC

Guest Lecture: Questioning as a Create Practice, Advance Research Seminar, The New School, New York, NY

Shirt Stories/Shared Stories, Artist Talk at Tribute Collective, Washington DC

Workshop facilitation & Artist Talk, Arts Scholars Program at the University of Maryland College Park, MD

The Only Divisions that Matter Now: A roundtable discussion, Loyola University Baltimore, MD

Healing through Art Panel: Alchemical Vessels 2019, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Washington DC

Guest Artist Lecture, Integrative Studio Design Course, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY

Guest Artist Lecture, Art Theory, University of Maryland College Park, MD

2018 Artist Talk, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Artist Lecture in conjunction with exhibition Mirrored Re-Collection, University of Maryland College Park, MD

Guest Artist Talk, George Washington University, Washington DC
Responding to the Muslim Ban: Art & Activism Panel, Open Government Hub, Washington DC

PRESS / MEDIA

2020 Social Distancing Studio Visit w/ Caroline Kipp: Curator of Contemporary Art, The Textile Museum, Washington DC

Contemporary Art Mover: Empathy Zone: 同感地带 | 段少锋 & Sobia Ahmad, Beijing China

2019 The Washington Post: In the galleries (Review of solo exhibition wherever you are is called Here)

The Washington Post: With two group exhibits, maximum exposure for photographers

2018 Huffington Post: The powerful political statement behind this artist’s wall of passport photos

Al-Jazeera English: Muslim immigrants' ID cards used to build a 'wall of defiance'

NBC Asian America: This artist is collecting Muslim immigrants' ID cards to build a different kind of wall

2017 Baltimore City Paper: No Borders: Artists in "Out/Side & In/Between" at School 33 navigate sense of place, culture, self-image, and immigration

The Washington Post: In the galleries: The art of politics has exploded in Washington

2016 Washington City Paper: At Rockville's VisArts, two exhibitions of young artists showcase talent and potential

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