Hina Khan: Inaugural recipient of Create and Fire Station Artists’ Studios Residency, 2018

Hina Khan’s work is the constant search for the best way to interpret ideas and express ideologies through symbolism. Having completed a BFA (Bachelor in Fine Arts) from F. G Degree College, she completed an MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) from FJWU (Fatima Jinnah Women University), Pakistan in 2003, with Miniature Painting as Major. Using a mixture of traditional and innovative techniques, Hina’s work portrays social issues, immigration and humanitarian crisis like prostitution, gender discrimination, restrictions, trauma, child abuse and killing.

Hina has participated in a number of exhibitions in recent years, including a current solo show in Ballina Arts Centre titled Visible n Invisible. Hina’s experience of living in a Direct Provision Centre has had a marked impact on her work. Hina finds that living in fixed boundaries makes it difficult to explore creativity and experimentation and has spent time researching the impact of such circumstances with fellow residents. This residency provided Hina space to work with freedom, enhancing her capabilities as an artist and was an opportunity to develop her collaborative arts practice further.

This residency award seeks to support cultural diversity in collaborative artistic practice in Ireland, in this instance concentrating on the Visual Arts. It seeks to provide a platform for the selected artist to develop and/or consolidate their collaborative arts practice, and will provide an opportunity for the artist to make contacts and identify resources, that may assist in the further development of their practice in Ireland.

Ths residency is a partnership between Create and Fire Station Artists’s Studios and funded through the Arts Council Artist in the Community Scheme.