Rabia Farooqui (b. 1992) is a visual artist based in Karachi, Pakistan. She received her BFA from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi in 2015. Working mainly with the technique of gouache on wasli, Rabia Farooqui's practice explores the complexities of human relationships through playful, theatrical and colourful compositions. By anonymising her subjects, the artist purposefully draws our attention not only to the physical interactions taking place, but also to wider notions of performance, authority and vulnerability, blurring the distinctions between emotional states, movement and stillness, conscious and unconscious worlds.
Solo Exhibitions include (Upcoming) Synthetic Skin, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Wandsworth, London, UK (2025); Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA (2024); Internal Landscapes, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2023); Two Adults and an Attachment, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2021); Baby, You’re A Metaphor, O Art Space, Lahore, (2018); Clap Clap- I Approve!, Sanat Art Gallery, Karachi, (2017).
Group Exhibitions include Art Dubai 2022, Dubai, UAE (2022); Two Person Show, O Art Space, Pakistan (2022); Liminal Spaces, Galerie Isa, Mumbai, India (2022); Amad, O Art Space, Pakistan (2022); Facing The Sun, Schloss Goerne, Germany (2021); Interconnected, John Wolf Art Advisory; Los Angeles USA (2021); Devil's in the Detail, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020);Inflated Vocabulary, Sanat Art Gallery, Karachi (2019); Augmentation, US Consulate, Karachi (2018); Beneath the Surface, Canvas Gallery, Karachi (2017); Carte Blanche, Fomma DHA Art Centre, Karachi (2016).
Hightlights and Collections
Farooqui was nominated for Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2020. In April 2018, she participated in the artist residency at Zaratan-Arte Contemporanea in Lisbon, Portugal where she exhibited her work by the end of the residency program. Similarly, in March 2017 Farooqui was selected to represent Pakistan in an artist residency by the name of Green Olive Arts, Morocco where she took part in an open studio event along with seven other international artists.