Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai’s (b. 1988) practice is rooted in the lived and collective experiences of women whose voices have long been suppressed under socio-political hierarchies and religious orthodoxy. While her works often stem from personal memory, they resonate with the histories of countless women who have been marginalized across time. Through a disciplined studio practice and community-led initiatives such as Lihaaf (Quilt), Arshi engages with contemporary feminist discourse in a way that is both intimate and expansive. Her art, spanning varied scales and mediums, interrogates the position and agency—often the absence thereof—of Muslim women, weaving together text and imagery in a visual language that evokes fragments of sacred manuscripts as well as the private weight of handwritten diaries. In doing so, her work becomes a quiet but unflinching act of reclamation and resistance.

Her prolific art practice finds its foundation in the history of stitching by rafoogars (darners) of Najibabad. Surrounded by a large community of women who share their embroidery over songs, compassion and sisterhood, it was only natural for Arshi to turn to the fabric as her canvas. These exchanges have led to large scrolls as well as smaller works, where she juxtaposes image and text to comment on women and their roles, their sexuality, their freedom and their desires- some in love and some victims to political terrorism. An avid reader of poetry and philosophy, she not only questions patriarchy, but demands that her voice is heard and accepted.

Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Art from the Aligarh Muslim University, 2011 and a Masters in Fine Art from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2013. Her recent solo shows include, Bagh-e-Zanana, solo booth at Bawwaba, Art Dubai curated by Emiliano Vades (2024); Qissah-e Kabul, at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai (2022) and Nafas (Isolation Diaries) at Blueprint12, New Delhi (2021). Her select group exhibitions include: Mosaic Art award at Hauser and Wirth, London (2023); 'Remains of the Garden', Kunst Museum Thun, Switzerland (2022); 'DON’T PRETEND YOU CAN’T HEAR', The Clemente Center, New York (2022); Burqewali, Kunst Museum Wolfsburg, Germany (2022); 'Woman Is As Woman Does', CSMVS Museum, Mumbai (2022); 'Forestial Flock', Shrine Empire, New Delhi (2022); ‘May we meet again’, a collaborative project for Noor Riyadh light festival, Saudi National Museum, 2021; ‘Head in the Clouds’ at Chatterjee & Lal, 2021; ‘Seeds are being sown’ at Shrine Empire Gallery, 2020; The India Art Fair, 2020; ‘Out of your shadow’ by Blueprint12 at Gallery Espace, 2019 and a solo presentation at 1Shanthi Road Gallery in 2019. She is one of the recipients of the Five Million Incidents grant from the Goethe-Institut, New Delhi and the Inlaks Fine Arts Award in 2019. 

Having previously lived between Germany, Kabul and New Delhi, she is currently based in the USA.