Haya Zaidi b. 1993

Karachi-based multidisciplinary artist Haya Zaidi works at the convergence of Indo-Persian miniature painting, mixed media, and contemporary feminist discourse. Grounding her practice in the visual and literary lineages of South Asia, Zaidi examines how the brown female body becomes a contested site of inheritance, mythology, and resistance. Through intricate symbolism and layered narrative, she reconfigures archetypal imagery to articulate a selfhood shaped by both cultural memory and the psychic interiority of womanhood. 

Zaidi’s work interrogates the iconography of femininity and the systems that script its representation. Drawing from South Asian mythological frameworks and the codified language of Indo-Persian miniature traditions, she constructs new visual propositions for how the feminine may be claimed, embodied, and reimagined. Her compositions speak to questions of sovereignty and interior power, exploring how women create agency within, and in spite of, the structures that circumscribe them.

Psychological inquiry forms a central thread in her practice. Engaging with Carl Jung’s theories of archetypes, the shadow, and individuation, Zaidi reflects on the transformational potential of integrating the repressed or disavowed self. This lens resonates with the contemporary female experience in Pakistan, where shifting cultural realities are expanding the terrain for women’s self-authorship and collective visibility.

Bridging image and text through the cadence of Urdu and Persian poetry, Zaidi traces themes of longing, desire, suffering, and transcendence. Her work moves fluidly between the earthly and the metaphysical, illuminating how spirituality, philosophy, and lived experience shape the emotional and cultural landscape of South Asian womanhood.

Zaidi's work has been presented in significant institutional and gallery contexts across Pakistan and internationally, including the Karachi Biennale; Sanat Initiative; O Art Space; Canvas Gallery; and Numaish Gah, Lahore, among others. Internationally, her practice has been exhibited at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, in Space in Time: Contemporary Miniatures from Pakistan, and at ARTDOM, Oslo—expanding the discourse around contemporary Indo-Persian miniature painting beyond its geographic origins. From early exhibitions such as Premise of Promise and MICROCOSM to recent presentations including Re-imagine/Re-trace and Mirage of Life, Zaidi has developed a sustained and rigorous exhibition history marked by critical attention and institutional recognition. Her trajectory reflects a deepening formal and conceptual inquiry—positioning her within a generation of artists redefining miniature painting as a site of psychological intensity, feminist resistance, and contemporary political thought