Maliha Abidi (b. 1995, Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-American artist based in London, UK. She received her MFA in Fine Art from the University of Oxford in 2026 and her MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art in 2025. Working across painting, animation, digital illustration, immersive experiences and installation, Abidi explores a multidisciplinary approach to art-making, moving between physical and digital mediums to develop and communicate her ideas.
Solo exhibitions include A Knock on the Door: Ancestral Ghosts, Art’otel Hoxton London, London, UK (2024); Shifting Shadows: A New Horizon, Frameless Gallery, London, UK (2023).
Selected group exhibitions include Uncomfortable Truths, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2026); Bound, Secteur Privé, London, UK (2026); What Touches the Scalp is Close to the Bone, Hunna Art, Paris, France (2026); Exhibition 005, Worcester College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2026); The Joy of You, Outernet London, London, UK (2026); Modern Art Oxford x EMPRES Lates, Oxford, UK (2026); A Home in the Universe, Linacre College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2026); Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2025); Provisional We, The Handbag Factory, London, UK (2025); Rejection, Hanger Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2025); Hanger Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2024); Shifting Shadows: A New Horizon, Outernet London, London, UK (2024); Shifting Shadows: A New Horizon, Faena Forum, Miami, USA (2023); The Other Art Fair, Jerry Can in collaboration with Charity Water, London, UK (2023); Art Block, Outernet London, London, UK (2023); Women Rise, Tate Modern x Instagram’s Creator Week, Tate Modern, London, UK (2022); Women Rise, K11 Musea, Hong Kong (2022); River City, Bangkok, Thailand (2015).
Highlights and Collections
Maliha Abidi has received several awards and recognitions, including the 2026 Vivien Leigh Art Prize awarded by the Ashmolean Museum, the 2026 Oxford Review of Book Art Prize, and being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe in 2025. She was shortlisted for New Contemporaries in 2026, received the Oxford Pakistan Programme Studentship Award in 2026, and was a recipient of Adobe’s Artist Development Fund in 2021. Abidi has undertaken artist residencies with Frameless Gallery, London (2023); Moonpay, Los Angeles (2023); Quantum Art, Santa Monica (2023); and the World Peace Initiative, Thailand (2015). Her work is held in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK; The Sandbox Game Art Collection, Paris, France; Moonpay Art Collection; and private collections across the U.S., Europe and UAE.