Khadim Ali

Khadim Ali belongs to the Hazara tribe from Afghanistan. His family was forced to flee their home in Hazarajat during the nineteenth century, settling in Quetta, Pakistan, where he was born. The subject matter of Ali’s work may appear to be symbolic, but it is born and bred in the conflict zones of South, Southwest, and Central Asia. After being offered a distinguished talent visa by the Australian Government, Khadim Ali moved to Sydney in 2010. Perpetual migrations accompanied by loss and trauma contribute to the potency of his images. Ali’s delicate use of colour and detail is evidence of his deep connection to the miniature tradition and tapestry. Taking from the pages of Shahnameh, he traces the nature of friends and foes, self and others, and the victor and victim. He learned his craft as a young man when many Afghan refugees were making carpets to earn their living during the Afghan war. Khadim Ali’s current body of work reflects his many concerns and demonstrates a deft way of combining mediums and concepts. The artist’s deepening anxieties about events in the regions he still calls home, both Pakistan and Afghanistan, reflect his responsibility for his role as an artist.

He earned his Bachelor’s from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan (2003), where he studied traditional miniature painting, and completed his Master’s from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (2012). Ali presented five paintings at Documenta 13 in 2012, including one at the quinquennial’s first presentation in Kabul. His works are in collections around the world, including Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, British Museum, London, UK, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, Foreign Office, Islamabad, Pakistan, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia.

His recent participations include Art Dubai with LATITUDE 28, Dubai (2025 & 2023); Delhi Contemporary Art Week with LATITUDE 28, Bikaner House, New Delhi, (2021-2024); India Art Fair with LATITUDE 28, New Delhi (2022 & 2019); ‘Residues & Resonance’ with LATITUDE 28 at Artissima Hub India curated by Myna Mukherjee and Davide Quadrio, MAO (Museo d’Arte Orientale), Italy (2021); ‘Between The Sun And The Moon’, Lahore Biennale 02, Lahore Biennale Foundation, Pakistan (2019); ‘In One Drop of Water’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2019); ‘Antipodean Stories’, PadiglioneD’Arte Contemporanea Milano, Milan; ‘gohyang: Home’, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; ‘Continental Shift: Contemporary Art and South Asia’, Bunjil Place, Melbourne; Sharjah Biennial 14; ‘Leaving the Echo Chamber’, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE (2018); ‘Babur Ki Gai’, LATITUDE 28, New Delhi (2018) and ‘Dissensus’, LATITUDE 28, New Delhi (2017). His solo exhibitions include ‘Forlorn Foe,’ LATITUDE 28, New Delhi (2016); ‘Transition/Evacuation,’ ARNDT, Singapore (2015); ‘Transitions/Evacuations,’ Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2014); ‘The Haunted Lotus,’ Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2014); ‘The Haunted Lotus,’ Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong, and Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2013); Rustam at Rohtas2, Lahore, Pakistan (2009); Rustam at Green Cardamom, London, UK (2007).

The artist is represented by LATITUDE 28, New Delhi, India.