Shared Histories, Unbordered Memories

Salima Hashmi is an artist (b. 1942, Delhi), curator and contemporary art historian. She taught at the National College of Arts, Lahore, as a Professor of Fine Arts for thirty years, where she was also the Principal for four years. She is a painter of repute whose works have been exhibited in Pakistan and in international exhibitions. She has written extensively on the arts, and has curated exhibitions of contemporary art and traditional textile, within Pakistan and internationally. 

Hashmi was the co-founder of the Rohtas Gallery in Islamabad, established in 1981, and also established Rohtas-2 in Lahore in 2001, which has focused on young artists and new art practices. She has authored several books, including Unveiling the Visible- Lives and Works of Women Artists of Pakistan (2002) and Memories, Myths, Mutations – Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan, co- authored with Yashodhara Dalmia (2006).  She was awarded the President’s Medal for Pride of Performance for Art Education by the Government of Pakistan in 1999. The Australian Council of Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) also nominated her as Inaugural International Fellow, for distinguished service to art and design education in 2011. Hashmi is a Council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Priyanka works as a film director and editor, exploring themes of memory, landscape and relationships of people to places. She articulates her practice as an archaeology of silences, digging at sites characterised by trauma; physical and emotional. Her recent work focuses on reconciling memories and experiences of the Partition of Punjab (1947), Iqraar-naama (supported by IFA, Bengaluru) being her most recent work on the subject. Her previous films include Pichla Varka (The Previous Page) and A Summer Flu. She lives and works between Delhi and Manali.

Krittika Kumari is the Digital Editor at the Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru, where she manages the writing and editing for MAP’s digital museum. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, her research interest lies in the Mughal miniature painting tradition, as well as Indian Modern Art. She has previously worked at DAG, New Delhi, as part of the Exhibitions and Publications team, where her role involved writing for the gallery’s multitude publications. More recently, she worked with Dr Alka Pande as the Project Coordinator for the Bihar Museum Biennale 2021, which was organised by the Bihar Museum, Patna and held digitally. In 2017, she was invited by Dr Kavita Singh to deliver a lecture on Art and Architecture during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb to the Masters of Arts students at Jawaharlal Nehru University, School of Arts and Aesthetics, New Delhi.