Skip to content

Bani Abidi

Pakistan

The Reassuring Hand Gestures of Big Men, Small Men, All Men

Bani Abidi was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and now works between Berlin and Karachi. She uses video, photography, drawings and sound to tell stories about performances of power and ordinary people, often through quotidian details and absurd vignettes. Abidi studied visual art at the National College of Arts in Lahore, and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited widely in solo and group shows internationally. Solo exhibitions have taken place at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg; and Experimenter, Kolkata, amongst others. Selected group exhibitions include WALK, Schirn Kunsthalle, 2022; Asia Pacific Triennial, 2021; Seoul Mediacity Biennale, 2021; Lahore Biennial, 2018; Edinburgh Art Festival, 2016; 8th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, 2014; No Country, Guggenheim Museum, NY, 2013; documenta (13), 2012; Kochi-Muziris Biennial, 2012; 10th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, 2009.

About Us

Chobi Mela, the first festival of photography in Asia, is one of the most exciting ventures that Drik and Pathshala has initiated. The first Chobi Mela – International Festival of Photography was held in December 2000 – January 2001. It is the most demographically inclusive photo festival in the world and is held every two years in Dhaka.