In this episode of Alt+Shift+Studio, Karachi based artist Omer Wasim will explore his practice through the lens of migration, displacement and city ecologies.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Omer Wasim (b. 1988) was born in Karachi where he is currently based. He is an intermedial artist whose practice is informed by a radical queer politics, which mediates his responses to space to subvert the frames of development, infrastructure and everyday wars that shape human relationships to cities and nature. His work bears witness to the relentless erasure, violence and destruction of our times by staying with more-than-human bodies. His solo and collaborative projects have been shown at the Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai), Khoj Studios (Delhi), Colomboscope Arts Festival 2022 (Colombo), sonsbeek20→24: force times distance—on labour and its sonic ecologies (Arnhem), the Yokohama Triennale 2020 (Yokohama), the Dhaka Art Summit 2018 & 2020 (Dhaka), the Karachi Biennale 2017 & 2019 (Karachi), the Kunstraum Niederoesterreich (Vienna), Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, the International Public Art Festival 2019 (Karachi), and the Cairo Video Festival 2017 (Cairo).
ABOUT THE SERIES
Alt+Shift+Studio is a series of online conversations and video tours that examine the intersection of infrastructures and ideas in contemporary artistic practice. In its 2023 edition, the programme is curated by Himanshu Kadam who delves into the theme of ‘Fractured Grids’. Inviting artists from South Asia and its diaspora, the series offers insights into the spaces they inhabit and how local topographies inform their practice. The new edition navigates through cities in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and the UAE, with insights into how ecology, war, civil movements and migration shape contemporary art.
Series editing by: Nikhil KC
An initiative by Ishara Art Foundation