Nadia Waheed

October 14, 2019

Nadia Waheed makes narrative paintings rich with color, metaphor, and iconography. Her work is populated exclusively by women, usually nude, and often wearing a long braid. Waheed, herself, wore a long braid for many years and says in her paintings it functions as a metaphor for "connection, worth, beauty, vulnerability." It is also a nod to her Pakistani roots: "Long braids are symbols of traditional beauty in Pakistan and I pay homage to that tradition in my paintings," she says. "It's a heavily layered symbol, a liberation and simultaneously a huge weight."

nikka (pink), acrylic on canvas, 2018

bathers, acrylic on canvas, 2019

Bathers (2019) features two figures perched on rocks in a flowing stream in an idyllic landscape, each transfixed by the prismatic rays emanating from the sun. In the corner is an airplane with a streamer that reads "'oh no,' he said 'we think of you as a dancer,'" a reference to Carolee Schneeman's 1975 performance piece, Interior Scroll. The chromatic rays of light coupled with the Schneeman reference point to an allegory of painting and art making. Waheed says that being alone in the studio for 10-14 hours a day became isolating in 2018 but that "more than being alone with myself, I was afraid of not painting." In that isolation is also the possiblity of solidarity with other artists across time and space.

rite of passage, acrylic on canvas, 2018

gender reveal, acrylic on canvas, 2018

In Gender Reveal (2018) we see two nude figures with hot pink skin, hair braided together, arms intertwined. The figures mirror each others' gaze as if they are both interrogating and revealing their full gender identity for the other. It is a parable of the internal struggle of gender identity and is only complicated further by the banner in the corner reading "Boy!"

blue portrait (sisyphus’s boulder), acrylic on canvas, 2018

mountain climbers, acrylic on canvas, 2018

Mountain Climbers (2018) again features two figures, this time with blue skin and long, swooping braids. It is an energetic composition balanced by yellow negative space and activated by the ropes leading to the center of the painting. The way the climbers are holding each others ropes and harnesses reads as a metaphor for trust and dependence, specifically between women achieving new heights.

sun salutation, acrylic on canvas, 2018

Waheed will be in a two person show presented by Patel Gallery at Arsenal Contemporary in New York during the Armory in March 2020. She also has a solo show at Mindy Solomon Gallery opening in December 2020 during Art Basel in Miami. Follow along on Instagram to see what's next! @nadiakwd