She received her PhD in art historical studies from the Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA in 2016. Her research interest is South Asian modern and contemporary art and her PhD dissertation was on the study of modern art in Pakistan in the first decade of its establishment through a small group of artist collective called Lahore Art Circle. She is currently working on extending her research by undertaking a comparative study of what modern art entailed for other neighboring countries of Pakistan, including the MENASA region, while examining the respective, purposefully open-ended, dialectical tensions between international, national, and local stylistic concerns of the region—a parallel dialogue to the western canon.

As part of the École des Modernités residency at the Institut Giacometti, Samina Iqbal continues her research into the passage of artists from Pakistan to Paris. A thriving hub of fine arts, Paris attracted many artists from around the world, especially from former British colonies, who came to Paris to study and to become part of mainstream art. These non-European artists exhibited their work in Paris and returned to their home countries carrying along the enriching experience of Parisian life and art milieu.  

The presentation will explore the visibility of the modern artists of Pakistan in Paris during the 1950s to 1970s and the artists in focus will include Shakir Ali, Zubeida Agha, Syed Sadequain Naqvi, and Zahoor ul Akhlaq. The intention is to highlight the common thread between the artistic trajectories of these artists and the reception of their work in Paris.