Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai (b. 1988) is an Indian artist based in Weimar. Arshi was born in Najibabad and has lived in India and Afghanistan before moving to Germany. Arshi gained her Undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, and her Graduate degree from the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
Arshi produces work that incorporates words and visuals in a manner that might be reminiscent at times of fragments of ancient texts, and of very personal journals at others. Motifs like the pomegranate, chair, takhti, gardens and heart appear repeatedly in Arshi’s visuals pointing at her interest in the tense threads that connect womanhood, identity, culture, history and power. While Arshi’s underlying concerns and enquiries as an artist have, to a large extent, remained constant over the years, she has approached her concerns from several perspectives - each uniquely peculiar to her position as a South Asian Muslim woman. Arshi borrows from fable and lore, philosophy and poetry to bring together a compelling case for agency.
She is one of the recipients of Artist Fellowship 2022-23 at Bauhaus University, Germany, A Poetry Grant supported by Riyadh National Museum, Saudi Arabia in 2021, “Five Million Incidents” project supported by Goethe Institute and Raqs Media Collective in 2020 and INLAKS Fine Art Award in 2019.
