Madyha J. Leghari
Curriculum Vitae

madyha.leghari@gmail.com
www.madyhaleghari.com 

EDUCATION

2016–2018 | MFA (Media Arts: Photography)
Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Cross-registered for 9 credits at Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

2009–2013 | BFA (Printmaking)
National College of Arts, Lahore 

RESIDENCIES & AWARDS

2025 | Digital Residency, The Nicholson Project, Washington, DC
2022–2024 | Hamiltonian Artist Fellowship, Washington, DC
2024 | Wherewithal Research Grantee, Washington, DC
2024 | Fellow, Islam & Print, Baltimore
2021 | Vasl Fiction Writing Mentorship, Karachi
2021 | Mantiq of the Mantis Artist Residency, Lahore
2021 | Mansion Artist Residency, Lahore
2020 | Delta Research Placement, John Latham Archive at FlatTime House, London
2020 | Teaching Residency (selected), BRS China (MassArt)
2020 | Visiting Artist Residency, Siena Art Institute, Italy
2016 | Fulbright Scholarship
2016 | MassArt Dean’s Scholarship
2014 | Murree Museum Artist Residency
2010–2011 | Merit Scholarships, National College of Arts

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025 | PANG, Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC
2016 | Notes Towards Silence, Rohtas Gallery, Lahore

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

  • Water in the Gas, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC (cur. Anisa Olufemi)

  • Carte Blanche, Adah Rose Gallery, Rockville

  • Porous, Kaleido Kontemporary, Lahore (cur. June Collective)

  • Mehr als Worte, Goethe Institut, Washington, DC (cur. Adah Rose & Teddy Rodgers)

  • Garden of Times, Articulate Studios, Lahore (cur. Sehrish Mustafa)

  • Deconstructed and Reestablished, Blackrock Gallery, Germantown, USA (cur. Safiyah Cheatam & Dan Flounders)

2024

  • Heirloom, Gallery CA, Baltimore (cur. Safiyah Cheatam & Dan Flounders)

  • Scorched Petals to Pages, The Nicholson Project, Washington, DC (cur. Thomas James)

2023–2010

  • of known fabliaux, Lahore (cur. The Roadside and June Collective) 2023

  • new.now:23, Hamiltonian Artist, Washington DC (cur. Anisa Olufemi) 2023

  • Speaking in Tongues, Jamshed Memorial, Karachi Biennale 22 (cur.  Faisal Anwar) 2022

  • Yeah, I’m doing great, MassArt x SoWa, Boston. 2021

  • EART: A manifesto of possibilities, in collaboration with Rashid Rana, Manchester International Festival ( cur. Alnoor Mitha) 2021 

  • Spinning and Unspinning: The Art of The Storyteller, O Art Space, Lahore (cur. Laila Rahman) 2021

  • Fragaments, Satrang Art Gallery, Islamabad (cur. Zahra Khan) 2021

  • Left a Mark, Satrang Art Gallery, Islamabad (cur. Zahra Khan) 2021

  • Mansion Artist Residency Exhibition, Lahore (cur. Nausheen Saeed) 2021

  • Streaming Silences, Popup by The Roadside, Lahore (cur. Ali Arshad) 2020

  • Islamabad Art Festival, National Art Gallery, Islamabad (cur. Risham Syed) 2019

  • From the Hills to the Sea, AAN Gandhara Art Space, Karachi (cur. Saba Khan) 2019

  • MFA Thesis Show, Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Boston (cur. Lisa Tung) 2018

  • In the Beginning was the Word, O Art Space, Lahore (cur. Quddus Mirza) 2018

  • Future Debris,  Zahoor-ul-Aklaq gallery, Lahore (cur. Saba Khan) 2018

  • Expanded Landscape, Doran Gallery, Boston. 2017

  • What Belongs to You, Sanat Initiative, Karachi. 2016

  • Till Human Voices Wake Us, Canvas Gallery, Karachi. 2015

  • Sydney-Lahore: Prints from the Collections of Cicada Press and Saeed Akhtar Studio, Saeed Akhtar Studio, Lahore. 2014

  • Murree Museum Residency Show, Murree Museum and Archives, Murree. 2014

  • In a room/I trap/ the absence of the room, Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore. 2013

  • Limbs – Anatomy of Images, Attic Studio, Alhamra Arts, Lahore. 2013

  • Shehr ke Naam Khat (Letter to the City), Lahore Literary Festival, Alharma Arts, Lahore. 2013

  • Degree Show – (Un)comfortable Silences, at the National College of Arts, Lahore. 2013

  • Attic Studio, Alhamra Art Centre, Lahore. 2012

  • Correspondence – A three way art exchange program between the National College of Arts, Harvard University, and Universitat Mozarteum. Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, Lahore (cur. Mohammad Ali Talpur) 2011

  • Young Artists Exhibition, Alhamra Art Centre, Lahore. 2010

SCREENINGS & FILM FESTIVALS

2023

  • StableArts Film Festival, Washington DC, USA.

  • Images Festival, Toronto, Canada.

2022

  • Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Hawick, Scotland, UK.

  • Esto Es Para Esto, Monterrey, Mexico.

  • XVIII Festival Transterritorial de Cine Underground, Berlin, Germany.

2021

  • Istanbul Experimental Film Festival, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. 

  • On Commons - Video and Experimental Film Event, Sea Foundation, Tilburg, Netherlands

  • Mimesis Documentary Festival, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

  • 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athens, Greece

  • 33rd Girona Film Festival, Girona, Catalonia

  • Antimatter [Media Art], Victoria BC, Canada

  • Hive International Short Film Days, Berlin, Germany

  • 9th International Video Poetry Festival, Athens, Greece

  • Divvy Film Festival, Pakistan National Council of Arts, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • SPHERE → WORLD CINEMA CARNIVAL, Kolkata, India

  • International Kanks Video Festival, Moscow Russia

  • OASFF, Minsk, Belarus

  • Kino pleme / Live Soundtrack, Belgrade, Serbia

  • El FESTIVAL de Sci-Fi, Terror y Fantasía, Bogotá, Colombia

  • Kinam Festival Internacional De Cine Differente, Mexico City, Mexico

  • Cine@Art Festival, Ancient Corinth, Greece

  • Patmos Cinema Festival, Patmos, Greece

  • Maracay International Film and Video Festival, Maracay, Venezuela

2020

  • Maldito Festival de Videopoesia, Albacete, Spain

  • Nottingham Arts Mela, Nottingham UK

  • South Asian Film Festival, Bennington College, USA

  • ÍCARO Festival Internacional de Cine en Centroamérica, Guatemala City, Guatemala

  • Helios Sun Poetry Film Festival, Mexico City, Mexico

  • Florence Film Awards, Honorable Mention, Florence, Italy

  • AltFF Alternative Film Festival, Best Cast Award, Toronto, Ontario

  • Deep Cut Film Festival, Toronto, Canada

  • FlickFair, August 2020, Official Selection, USA

  • Blacksphere Festival 2020, Finalist, Praha, Czech Republic

INVITED TALKS

2025

  • Artist Talk at The Kreeger Museum, Washington DC

  • Artist Talk in conversation with Landon Newton, Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington DC

2024

  • Research Presentation, Wherewithal Grants, Washington DC

  • Artist Talk, The Nicholson Project, Washington DC

2023–2015

  • 2023   Artist Talk at Hamiltonian Artists, Washington DC

  • 2022   Artist talk, Karachi Biennale

  • 2022   Artist talk, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore

  • 2022   Artist talk, National College of Arts, Lahore. 

  • 2021   Teaching Projects in Art and Design, ConversationsTP, Pakistan

  • 2021   Afterword, Sphere World Cinema Carnival, Kolkata

  • 2020   Contemporary Pakistani Short Film: Experimentations and Innovations, PictureGhar, LUMS, Lahore

  • 2020   Plasma - Artist Talk, Helios Sun Poetry Film Festival, Mexico City

  • 2020   Starters Live,  lecture on night and its cultural history, Siena Art Institute  

  • 2020   Artist Talk at the Siena Art Institute

  • 2019   Para-sites and Para-fictions, National History Museum, Lahore

  • 2019   Exit Strategy, National Art Gallery, Islamabad

  • 2019   Death of the Discipline, convened, presented and moderated, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore

  • 2015   Khayaal Festival, Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore

SELECTED PRESS

  • The Artist’s Artist by Rashid Rana | Artforum

  • In the galleries by Mark Jenkins | The Washington Post

  • Form and Meaning in Modern and Contemporary Pakistani Art by Iftikhar Dadi | The Wire, India

  • Garden as a Potent Symbol by Quddus Mirza | The News on Sunday

  • Marketing Art by Quddus Mirza | The News on Sunday

  • Hamiltonian Artists Announces new fellows and fellowship manager for 2022-2024 | East City Art

  • Visionary Women by Shaheer Masud | The News International

  • Artistic ideas and modern technology in hybrid hues by Shazia Hasan | Dawn Newspaper

  • The Art We Live and Breathe: Karachi Biennale ‘22 and the case for spatial escapism by Shaheer Masud | Mag the Weekly

  • Choice of Weapon by Rhea Storr | Alchemy Film and Arts

  • The Enigma of Silence by Quddus Mirza | The News on Sunday

  • An Estimation of Silence by Sarah Zahid | Nigaah Art

  • Spotlight Artist – Madyha Leghari by Shameen Arshad | The Missing Slate

  • No Man’s Land by Dua Abbas | ArtNow Pakistan

  • The Mansion Connection by Quddus Mirza | The News on Sunday

  • Unmaking Histories by Saulat Ajmal | The Aleph Review

  • Unmaking History  by Ambereen Siddiqui | The Friday Times

  • Spinning and Unspinning: The Art of the Storyteller’ by Nayha Jehangir Khan | Youlin Magazine

  • Left a Mark by Haroon Shuaib | ArtNow Pakistan

  • Exit Strategy at IAF 2019: A Nest of Non-Conformity by Rabeya Jalil | ArtNow Pakistan

  • From the Hills to the Sea by Uzma Nawaz | Nigaah Art

  • What Belongs to You | Nigaah Art 

  • Participation Issues by Veera Rustomji | ArtNow Pakistan

  • Who Does Art Belong To? by Nimra Khan | Dawn Newspaper

  • Featured in ‘For Art’s Sake’ | GT Magazine

  • Till Human Voices Wake Us | Nigaah Art

  • The hills are alive by Sumbal Iftikhar | The Friday Times

  • Vasl Art, Online Newsletter, Jan - May 2014 # 28

  • The Murree Museum Artists’ Residency | HELLO! Pakistan

  • In a Room I Trap the Absence of a Room by Dua Abbas | ArtNow Pakistan

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Beaconhouse National University

   Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator (Graduate Studies) | Aug 2018–Aug 2019

  • Managed two graduate programs: MA in Art and Design Studies (full-time), MA in Art Education (low residency)

  • Oversaw admissions, theses, degree exhibitions, and faculty assignments

  • Courses taught: Global Modernities: Art in an Age of Network, Beyond Art Making, Integrated Graduate Colloquium, Survey of World Art History, Research and Professional Practice

   Visiting Faculty | Aug 2019–May 2021

  • Courses taught: Contextuality: Theory and Practice, History of Ideas, Art in the Age of the Camera, History and Philosophy of Art Education, 20th Century Art I & II


National College of Arts

   Visiting Faculty | Feb 2015–May 2016, Aug 2019–May 2021

  • Courses taught: Drawing I, III, IV, Printmaking Major I, II, IV, Contemporary Art Seminar II, III, IV


Massachusetts College of Art and Design

   Adjunct Faculty | Jan–May 2018

  • Taught 35mm Black and White Photography (Intro)

INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE

  • Member, Editorial Board, IEDA: Journal of Transdisciplinary Practices in Art & Design, BNU (UNESCO Chair)

  • Member, Board of Studies, Department of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies, BNU

  • Core Member, Curriculum Committee, BNU: Contributed to Foundation Program redesign and launch of BA IEDA

  • Coordinated MA Art Education (Low Res) and MA Art & Design programs

  • Organized Death of the Discipline symposium and invited lectures (e.g. Dr. Shabnam Khan, Prof. Salima Hashmi)

  • Past Member, Curriculum Committee, National College of Arts

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2015–2016 | Research & Publication Assistant | Rashid Rana Studios

  • Project: My East is Your West, collateral event at 56th Venice Biennale

2014–2015 | Project Coordinator | Lahore Biennale Foundation

  • Authored institutional manifesto

  • Provided creative, technical, and logistical support for various aspects of setting up the Foundation and organizing the Lahore Biennale.

WRITING

  • “Reimagining Language” | Sea Foundation, 2023

  • “Thickening Night” | Fiction, Waba ke Dor Mein, 2021

  • “The Camera as Witness” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2018

  • “The Past and the Future of the Past” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2017

  • “On The Political Potential of Art” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2017

  • “The Artist Statement” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2016

  • “The Residency; as Retreat, Relational and Relief” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2016

  • “Rashid Rana” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2016

  • “Neverland” | Sanat Initiative, 2015

  • “Rosy Dreams With High Walls” | ArtNow Pakistan and Dawn Newspaper, 2015

  • “Shafqat, Shama, Shahzad and Brandon” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2015

  • “Art and Text: A Cursory Overview” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2015

  • “In Conversation With Rashid Rana” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2015

  • “Strand-ed: Ali Kazim at Rohtas Gallery” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2015

  • “The Garden of Earthly Delights” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Imagine What Language Looks Like” | Sanat Initiative, 2014

  • Kapray ka Insan” | Sanat Initiative, 2014

  • “Filling Greys: Ayaz Jokhio” |ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “The Collector Calling”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Some Impressions from the Murree Museum Artist Residency”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Disparate Strokes” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “In Conversation With Afshar Malik”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Other Spaces”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Mehmood Hassan Rumi”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Seen From Here, There, and Nowhere”| ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Julius John” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “NCA Thesis Preview” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2014

  • “Jononi” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Homelands” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Elegies, Effigies” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Modern Life” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Political Patterns” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Here and Now” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Ijaz Ul Hassan: Five Decades of Painting” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “New Works by Maryam Rahman Agha and Nida Bangash” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013

  • “Art – A New Approach” | ArtNow Pakistan, 2013


madyha.leghari@gmail.com