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Installation view, Baseera Khan Pocket Diary at Niru Ratnam, London. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Damian Griffiths
Join us for the In the Studio artist talk series, spotlighting artists and bringing them into dialogue with our audiences.This special talk features New York-based artist Baseera Khan and marks the first time they will be in conversation about their work in London. Working across painting, sculpture, installation and performance, Khan poetically navigates issues around cultural identities, gender and desire. They will be in conversation with Martha Joseph, curator in contemporary art, sound and performance at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Khan is interested in exploring how the economies of materials and colour intersect with labour, family structures, religion and spiritual well-being. Their work features recurring shapes and symbols, included in their sculptures, Chandeliers, and the ongoing performance pieces Acoustic Sound Blanket. Khan is the custodian of their father's fragmented archive of newspaper clippings, diplomas, political cartoons, currency transfers, gold rates and prayer times. His stories, full of Kashmiri gardens, geometric patterns, and the effects of The Partition, become unreliable truths, influencing Khan's concepts of culture, religion and family. These unreliable memories largely form the basis of Khan's artistic practice.
Khan will discuss a new body of work called Red Paintings that abstract hand written notes, patterns, and story telling extracted from a small pocket book in their father’s archive. The colour red, central to this work, is the first colour a baby sees, and its use also draws inspiration from both historical and personal photographic exposure. They will also discuss recent sculptural works highlighting Khan's inspiration from photography and installation. These include works from the Bust of Canons series, merging 18th-century sculptures of Tibetan and Buddhist deities housed in the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art collections with their own body, or re-imaginations of chandeliers and wall-mounted sculptures called Backdrops depicting Khan's home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Throughout Khan's practice, identity and the cultural and economic value of materials seem to take precedence over art historical genres. Khan is currently exhibiting works in a solo show called Pocket Diary on view at Niru Ratnam Gallery, London (7 March – 17 April).
'The pressure of identity is too much and too constructed, so I try not to reinstate these colonial labels in my work; instead, I try to emancipate them through my use of form, colour and performance – I abstract identity through multiple ways of working. My life's work is dedicated to the development of my own legacy, on my own terms. With the use of architecture, fashion, painting, photography, textiles, music, parody, sculpture and performance, I manifest my femme native-born Muslim American experience.' – Baseera Khan
The evening will include an artist presentation, talk and Q+A.
Khan is interested in exploring how the economies of materials and colour intersect with labour, family structures, religion and spiritual well-being. Their work features recurring shapes and symbols, included in their sculptures, Chandeliers, and the ongoing performance pieces Acoustic Sound Blanket. Khan is the custodian of their father's fragmented archive of newspaper clippings, diplomas, political cartoons, currency transfers, gold rates and prayer times. His stories, full of Kashmiri gardens, geometric patterns, and the effects of The Partition, become unreliable truths, influencing Khan's concepts of culture, religion and family. These unreliable memories largely form the basis of Khan's artistic practice.
Khan will discuss a new body of work called Red Paintings that abstract hand written notes, patterns, and story telling extracted from a small pocket book in their father’s archive. The colour red, central to this work, is the first colour a baby sees, and its use also draws inspiration from both historical and personal photographic exposure. They will also discuss recent sculptural works highlighting Khan's inspiration from photography and installation. These include works from the Bust of Canons series, merging 18th-century sculptures of Tibetan and Buddhist deities housed in the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art collections with their own body, or re-imaginations of chandeliers and wall-mounted sculptures called Backdrops depicting Khan's home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Throughout Khan's practice, identity and the cultural and economic value of materials seem to take precedence over art historical genres. Khan is currently exhibiting works in a solo show called Pocket Diary on view at Niru Ratnam Gallery, London (7 March – 17 April).
'The pressure of identity is too much and too constructed, so I try not to reinstate these colonial labels in my work; instead, I try to emancipate them through my use of form, colour and performance – I abstract identity through multiple ways of working. My life's work is dedicated to the development of my own legacy, on my own terms. With the use of architecture, fashion, painting, photography, textiles, music, parody, sculpture and performance, I manifest my femme native-born Muslim American experience.' – Baseera Khan
The evening will include an artist presentation, talk and Q+A.
Bio
Martha Joseph is a curator specialising in contemporary art, sound, and performance. At the Museum of Modern Art, she organises exhibitions, commissions, and performances and is part of the curatorial team for The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, MoMA's space for time-based art. Her writing has appeared in publications by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Bonner Kunstverein, and MoMA as well as Flash Art and Frieze Magazine. Previously, she has held curatorial positions at The Whitney and The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). She received her Masters degree in the History of Art from Williams College; a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Oberlin College; and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Oberlin Conservatory.
07:00 pm
Wed, 02 Apr 2025
Cinema 1
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Cinema 1
- Both our Cinemas have step free access from The Mall and are accessible by ramp
- We have 1 wheelchair allocated space with a seat for a companion
- All seats are hard back, have a crushed velvet feel and they do not recline
- These are our seat size dimensions: W 42 x D 45 x H 52
- Arm rest either side of the seat dimensions: L 27 x W 7 x H 20
for the following requirements:
- We have unassigned seating. If you require a specific seat, please reserve this in advance
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Baseera Khan, Acoustic Sound Blanket 08, 2022. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Studio Damian Griffiths
Baseera Khan, Receiving and Giving (Dining Room), 2020. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Studio Damian Griffiths
Installation view, Baseera Khan Pocket Diary at Niru Ratnam, London. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Damian Griffiths
Installation view, Baseera Khan Pocket Diary at Niru Ratnam, London. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Damian Griffiths
Baseera Khan, Clutch Red (Red Painting Series), 2025. Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London. Photo: Greg Carideo.
no. 236848.