HIBA SCHAHBAZ

‘Mermaids (2022)’, on loan from Jeffrey Deitch gallery, depicts a double mermaid, sensuously intertwined emerging from the softly swirling waters, their fishtails curving up underneath their heads to support their rest. The mermaids are doubled, almost reflective, duplication of the artist perhaps but one is gazing out strongly at the viewer while the other curls in on herself instinctively. These hybrid mythological creatures are imagined versions of hyperfeminist that occur across all cultures and times. The artist use of this hybridity might in fact be one of transcendence—a symbol of the potential for her own body and her performance of femininity to extend beyond the traditionally imagined archetypes.

Hiba Schahbaz was born in Karachi, Pakistan and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She works with paper, black tea, and water-based pigments as well as oil on linen. She depicts women’s bodies often referencing self-portraiture, creating a space for herself and other women to tell their stories and reclaim their histories. Since migrating to the United States, her practice has expanded from miniature painting to human-scale works. Schahbaz trained in miniature painting at the National College of Arts, Lahore and received an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute. Schahbaz’s practice is one of reimagined self or perhaps community portrait. The figures in her works may be the artist herself or the other women in her family and her community. They are often nude, soft, and vulnerable yet fiercely strong, returning a strong gaze right out from the work. While the works employ tea and watercolors, they are bold, almost larger than life in the presence and fearlessness they exude.