Maha Ahmed (b. 1989 Pakistan) lives and works in Dubai. She completed an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins School of Art, London on the Caspian Art Foundation Scholarship (2015) and a BFA in Miniature Painting from National College of Arts, Lahore (2012). She has lived and worked in Lahore, London, Tokyo and is currently based in Dubai. She received special commendation for her work by Dentons Art Prize judging panel leading to an acquisition by the David Roberts Art Foundation Collection (DRAF). Drawing on feelings of isolation and wonder, Ahmed depicts the experience of identity as it is constructed and re-constructed through the narratives of others. Her intricate, otherworldly visions of fantastical creatures and distant worlds offer a poignant refection on her personal feelings of unfamiliarity during a period of living and working in Tokyo. Ahmed dreams up imaginary worlds in which her characters - often mythical or hybrid creatures - are in some way at odds from their surroundings. The worlds are as beautiful as they are potentially frightening, tackling the complex emotions we might experience in relation to the unknown, such as loneliness, claustrophobia, or liberation and belonging. Ultimately, the viewer is left to interpret the narratives through their own internal experiences and feelings. Her works draw inspiration from traditional Persian and Mughal manuscripts and classical Japanese painting techniques.  Solo exhibitions include A Place that Cannot Be, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); An Island of Truths, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2019), A Mute Land, Display Gallery, London (2016), A Seed Once Planted, Asia House, London, (2016). Selected group exhibitions include Art Dubai with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (2020), Microcosm III, AAN Gandhara Art Space, Karachi (2019); Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai (2019); River in an Ocean, a collateral event for the inaugural Lahore Biennale (2018); I, too, am a part of this history, Fakir Khana Museum, Lahore (2018), Istanbul Contemporary, Istanbul (2018); BODY, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2017); And the horizon is dying over the tourist, Republic Gallery, London (2017); Dentons Art Prize Shortlist Exhibition for which she received special commendation by the Judging Panel (2017); and Asia house benefit Auction, Asia House, London (2016).

Soheila Sokhanvari is an Iranian-born artist whose multidisciplinary work weaves layers of political histories with bizarre, mysterious and often humorous narratives that she leaves open to viewers to complete. Sokhanvari, a studio artist at Wsying Arts Centre (since 2013), received her MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2011, postgraduate diploma in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2006 and BA Art History and Fine Arts from Anglia Ruskin University in 2005. She has recently been the recipient of the Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship at British School at Rome (Oct-Dec 2018) and has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East, with recent exhibitions including Addicted to Love, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2019); Salam Salam, Installation commissioned by the Magic of Persia Foundation (2018); LDWN, installation at Victoria Station, London, a collaboration between the Tate Collective and City Hall (2018), the travelling group show “I AM” Jordan, London and the USA (2018); Homeland at Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany (2017); Paradise Lost, Solo exhibit at the Jerwood Project Space, London (2017). Group exhibitions include 20year Anniversary Exhibition, Walsall Museum (2020); LDN WMN, Foyle’s Gallery, London (2019);Atelier 34zero Muzeum Collection, BWA Gallery, Katowice, Poland (2019); Imago Mundi, Trieste, at Salone deglie Incanti, Italy (2018); Crossroads Art Fair, London (2016); Champagne Life at Saatchi Gallery, London (2016), where she showed her iconic piece Moje Sabz, solo show Boogie Wonderland at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2015); The Armory Show 2015 in New York, Hey, I’m Mr. Poetic at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2014); Editions at Edge of Arabia, Jeddah (2014); and The Future Can Wait with Channel 4’s New Sensations at Saatchi Gallery, London (2013). In December 2020, Sokhanvari will be part of NGV Triennial, currently scheduled to open at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Sokhanvari’s work can be found in international private and public collections, including LACMA, National Gallery of Victoria, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Beth Rudin Dewoody Collection, Easton Capital/John Friedman Collection, Frank Cohen Collection, Benjamin Khalili Collection, Shahriar Maleki Collection and Saatchi Gallery Collection.

Khushna Sulaman-Butt, born in 1995 in Blackburn, UK, completed her BFA in Fine Art at Oxford University in 2016 and is currently studying for her MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art. Sulaman-Butt creates large scale figurative works, whose subjects are rooted in the artist’s British-Pakistani background as well as in the exploration of aesthetics of the female body, the subversive exchange of power latent in gender, societal expectation and stereotype. The artist creates her art working from original photography, allowing the viewer to gain a position of either dominance or submission, questioning our perceptions of identity and culture. Most of Khushna Sulaman-Butt’s work is focused on the modern society and is in particular influenced by a text written by Guy Debord “The Society of the Spectacle”, capturing individuals who exist in the spectacle of mass-media and exploring a relationship between the subjects and the media. Similar to photography, in her paintings Sulaman-Butt depicts her subjects in and out of focus, exhibiting a strong degree of dynamism, questioning our perception and the qualities of the mediums used further. In 2017, Sulaman-Butt’s work ‘Society’ was selected for the National Portrait Gallery Award. She also took part in the Sky Portrait Artist of the Year in 2019. Furthermore, Sulaman-Butt has been shortlisted for several awards, including ACS Studio Prize (2020), BP Portrait Award (2020),  the Aesthetica Art Prize (2017) and was also the recipient of a British Muslim of the Year Award (2018) for her works representing people of Muslim heritage and racial minority. Most recently, Sulaman-Butt’s work participated in the Saatchi Graduate Show “Grads Now” in 2020 and in RCA/Slade School Graduation Show at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. Other shows include Transtango Urban Encounters Dreaming Cities at the Leicester University Athena Theatre, Leicester, UK (2019); Bare Lines, Safehouse Copeland Road, London, UK (2019); Pulling Teeth, ASC Gallery, The Chaplin Centre, London, United Kingdom (2019); 2017 BP Portrait Award (2-17); Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland (2018); Ruskin BFA/ MFA Show, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, UK (2016); National Students Art Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists Mall Galleries (2012).