Baseera Khan


Baseera Khan is a New York based artist. She uses a variety of mediums in her practice to "visualize patterns and repetitions of exile and kinship shaped by economic, social, and political changes in local and global environments, with special interests in decolonization processes."
Her work navigates the political circumstances of her identity as a self-identified queer femme Muslim, and "as a feminist, and as a brown Indian-Pakistani-Afghani."

Early life and education

Khan grew up in Denton, Texas, raised by working class, Muslim parents who lived in near-isolation due to the threat of deportation. Her parents emigrated from Bangalore, India to the United States before she was born.
She received a B.F.A in Drawing/Painting and Sociology from the University of North Texas in 2005, and an M.F.A. from the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 2012. In 2014, she completed the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture program.

Career

Khan is a conceptual artist who uses a variety of mediums in her practice to "visualize patterns and repetitions of exile and kinship shaped by economic, social, and political changes in local and global environments, with special interests in decolonization processes."
In December, 2016 Khan was listed by Artnet News as one of "14 Emerging Women Artists to Watch for 2017."
Khan’s first solo exhibition in New York occurred at PARTICIPANT INC gallery space in 2017. The exhibition, titled “iamuslima,” was titled after the eponymous term that Khan had Nike stitch on a pair of Nike sneakers as a way of protesting Nike Inc.'s refusal to allow the word “Islam” or “Muslim”  on its customizable sneaker models.
In 2018 Khan was an artist in residence at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Other recent residencies and fellowships include an artist residency at Abrons Art Center, an International Travel Fellowship to Jerusalem/Ramallah through Apexart, and a Process Space artist residency at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Exhibitions