Aleena Akbar Khan (b.1999) is an interdisciplinary artist working between Pakistan and USA. She works across media, moving between sculptural installation, drawing, publication, sound and video.
Through various virtual, fictive, and physical interlocutors, her work probes the way information is materialized in our world, and considers how meaning can be abstracted, fractured, or fictionalized through loops of translation.
In Fall 2024, she began a three-year, fully funded MFA program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art in Pittsburgh, USA, as a recipient of the Regina and Marlin Miller Fellowship. She graduated with Distinction from the National College of Arts (NCA), Pakistan, in 2022, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Practice. In 2024, she was selected for the Prince Claus SEED Award, which supports artists addressing urgent socio-political issues within their local contexts.
She has participated in artist residencies in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Ireland.
Academics, residencies and grants
2024 Prince Claus Seed Award, Netherlands
2023 Artist in residence, Misk art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2022 Artist in residence, Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2022 Year-long research grant, Vasl artist's Association
2022 Artist in Residence, Digital Arts Studios(DAS), Belfast
2022 BFA with Distinction, National college of Arts, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Exhibitions
2023 '4 days', part of LDF, Lahore, Pakistan
2023 Masaha residency showcase, Misk art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2023 Lahore Digital festival(LDF), group show, Pakistan
2022 'Museum of Blue', a two person show at Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2022 'Anticipated Nostalgia', at Golden thread gallery, Belfast, UK
2022 'Zine scene', at CFAW, Karachi Pakistan
2022 'Playground', BFA thesis show, NCA Rawalpindi, Pakistan
2019 'In-house', Storia art studio, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Publications
2022 'Blue Noise', artist's book published by Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2021 'Things on the ground', self published
2020 'MAKESHIFT', self published