Hamra Abbas has a versatile artistic practice that straddles a wide range of media, from paper collage and painting to sculptures and photography. Her works often take a humorous look towards widely accepted traditions, appropriating culturally loaded imagery and religious iconography. Hamra Abbas received her BFA and MA in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore, and Meisterschueler from Universitaet der Kuenste in Berlin.
Abbas has exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions most recently at PILOT, Istanbul, Turkey and Canvas, Karachi, Pakistan (2015); Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2014); Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India (2012); and Green Cardamom, London, UK (2011). She has taken part in group exhibitions at notable institutions and foundations including Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, USA; The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA; ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany; Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, USA; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Asia Society Museum, New York, USA; ARTIUM de Álava Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; REDCAT, Los Angeles, USA.
She is the recipient of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2011, the Jury prize at Sharjah Biennial 9.
Her works are part of notable international public collections including the Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas, USA; Kadist Collection, Paris, France; British Museum, London, UK; Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon, India; Kiran Nader Museum of Art, New Delhi, India; Art In Embassies Collection, USA; Koç Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey and Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, Istanbul, Turkey.
Abbas was born in Kuwait in 1976 and currently lives and works between Lahore and Boston.
