Waseem Ahmed was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 1976. He grew up in a Muhajir (immigrant) family who, because they were Muslim, had migrated from India after Partition in 1947 to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan.

Ahmed is a key player in the contemporary miniature painting scene. Combining traditional miniature techniques, such as gouache and gold and silver leaf on wasli paper, with genuine experimental techniques, Ahmed creates finely rendered small and large scale works that address various social, political and cultural issues. Ahmed joins a number of South Asian artists that use tradition as a means towards innovation. The miniature is not treated solely as a historical heritage, but emphasized in its theoretical potential as a contemporary art form. Crossing cultural borders, Ahmed’s rich vocabulary borrows elements from Asian and European art history and mythology. His eclectic repertoire of images composed by animal shapes, bearded men, blood splattered surfaces, burkas, letters from the Arabic-Farsi-Urdu alphabet, often suggesting religious rhetoric, guns, rosaries, suicide-jackets or forms derived from prominent ancient sculptures, creates multiple layers of meaning. Ahmed’s thought-provoking works depict the turbulent time, characterized by conflict, violence and displacement faced today by both Eastern and Western societies.

Interview — Exhibition: Old Traditions New Narratives, South Asia Institute, Chicago, USA. September 8, 2020 - February 28, 2021