Bio Risham Syed is a visual artist and educator, heading the department of fine arts at the Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts & Design, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan.
Risham has a diverse art practice in which painting and other mediums are employed to explore questions of history, sociology, and politics. Living in any big metropolis like Lahore, one continuously experiences a momentous ‘urban transition’, which has become so very tangible over these past few years. Her native city plays a pivotal role in her work, as do related inquiries into what the colonial history of the region means to today’s global south. She explores these questions using her painting as pieces of a greater, often global context through installation and engages objects, borders, margins, frames with social reference and connotation. Her use of fabric, embroidery, found objects, along with her painting speak about her connection with the personal, as well as historical, weaving in history with the present moment.
Risham has shown extensively in major national and international exhibitions including the Manchester International Festival 2023; Jameel Arts Center, Dubai; Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester; ABRAAJ Capital Art Prize, Dubai; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane; Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, China; Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi; National Gallery of Art, Islamabad; National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; Harris Museum, Preston, Barbican Center; London and the Fukuoka Triennial, Japan. Her work is part of important public and private collections. Risham is the recipient of several prestigious awards like the ARRAAJ Capital Art Prize (2012) and the British Council WOW (Women of the World) Award 2021. Risham Syed is a graduate of the National College of Arts, Lahore and has an MA from the Royal College of Art, London. She is currently working on her solo show (April 2025) at The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey and Sharjah Biennial 2025.
Artist Statement | Knowledge of the Ancients
‘Khayalmala’
This website project entails setting up a platform to archive my mother Samina Hasan Syed’s (1944-2016) lessons with Ustad Chhotay Ghulam Ali Khan (1910-1986) of Qawal Bacha Gharana, that Samina documented on cassettes over a decade and a half (from the 70’s up to the mid 80’s before his death). Samina, like an archivist, with the consent of her Ustad, recorded these lessons diligently so that they could eventually be on a platform in the public domain for music practitioners, researchers and scholars. These recordings are an invaluable resource of hundreds of age-old raag compositions, along with anecdotes, incidents, encounters, all narrated through imaginative storytelling of her Ustad. The 100 hours of recording have been digitized and put into a website in her memory as she had envisioned a platform where her lessons would be arranged according to raags and raags arranged according to thaats (a scientific way of organizing raags).
Samina Hasan Syed (1944-2016): A Life Dedicated to Music
Renowned classical singer and educator, Samina Hasan Syed, trained under Ustad Chhotay Ghulam Ali Khan of Qawwal Bacha Gharana. Her extensive documentation of lessons and concerts has been digitized and preserved at https://www.khayalmala.org/
This archive honors her legacy, providing valuable resources for music practitioners, researchers, and scholars.
Video: Ustad Chhotay Ghulam Ali Khan's poignant performance and conversation with Samina Amin at Lok Virsa, Islamabad (1985), accompanied by his pupils Samina Hasan Syed and Sarah Zaman. This rare footage captures the maestro's artistry a year before his passing.
Ustad Chhotay Ghulam Ali Khan (1910-1986) hailed from Kasur and resided near Barkat Hall, inside Mochi Darvaza. Digital Archive: Explore Samina Hasan Syed's documented lessons and concerts at https://www.khayalmala.org/
I would like to thank Mrs. Samina Amin for the sharing the performance footage.