Last week, the Mittal Institute was honored to host Naiza Khan, a renowned artist from Pakistan, as the Institute’s second Distinguished Artist Fellow. In a lecture on campus on April 14—co-hosted by the MFA Boston—Khan presented her powerful work that weaves together themes of land, body, and memory through drawing, sculpture, archival material, and film.

Her work is rooted in critical research, documentation, and mapping-based exploration, raising significant questions about colonial history, collective memory, and the impact of old and new infrastructures. Read a Mittal Institute interview with Naiza about her work and artistic motivations. 

“Over the years, I have realized we mark the land through war and conflict, and this becomes part of the history of the land and part of its memory as well. We also carry this burden on our body; in our memory. So this is a complex relationship and a powerful connection between our actions and the response we face from nature.”

After her presentation, she was in conversation with Sonal Khullar, Hilles Bush Fellow 2024–25 at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art and Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University.

Images, clockwise from left: Jinah Kim, Naiza Khan, Sonal Khullar; Naiza Khan presents her slides; Jinah Kim introduces Naiza Khan.