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Press Release – Incubator

"Incubator” is the outcome of the first Artist-in-Residence Programme by Sanat Initiative, curated by 

critically acclaimed visual artist Muhammad Zeeshan. Currently an Adjunct Faculty of Indus Valley 

School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Zeeshan has several gallery and museum exhibitions to his credit

including; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, 

Abbot Hall Art Gallery at Kendal, Pacific Asia Art Museum at Pasadena, Art Gallery of Mississauga, British 

Museum, Gemak/Gemeente Museum, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and Metropolitan Museum at Tokyo.

Muhammad Zeeshan’s works are also a part of the permanent collection of British Museum, Fukuoka 

Asian Art Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 

After Sanat Initiative announced its ‘open call for applications’, and receiving an overwhelming number 

of responses, seven artists coming from a diversity of backgrounds and artistic practices were selected

from all over Pakistan; Abid Aslam from Lahore, Arsalan Nasir from Karachi, Ghulam Mohammad from

Kachi, Kiran Saleem from Faisalabad, Rohail Ghouri from Tando Jam, Sajid Khan from Malakand, and 

Zahra Asim from Lahore.

The Artist-in-Residence Programme aimed to bring together talent that exhibited immense potential, 

innovation, and demonstrated eagerness for a challenge, and created an environment at the Residency 

that was conducive to creative experimentation, learning, research, and artistic exploration. Sanat 

Initiative’s collaboration with curators, galleries, art fairs and museums worldwide, coupled with curated 

exhibitions, screenings, workshops and seminars at Sanat Gallery, the Artist-in-Residence Programme

worked much like an incubator, fostering the growth and continued development of these artists, by

connecting them with not just the larger art-world, but with other artists. 

Rohail Ghauri, from Tando Jam is a recent graduate from the Center of Excellence in Art and Design

(CEAD), Jamshoro. He explores the transition from his village to city life, which has created a personal

rift within, which he has dealt with by creating two different personalities. Also exploring dichotomies, 

Sajid Khan, a 2012 graduate in Miniature painting from National College of Arts Lahore, shares his 

observations and experiences of life in Palai, outside Swat, where the stark differences between the past

and the present, and peace and war are most apparent.

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