Artist Talk - Haseebah Ali x Dr Neelam Hussain | People of the Garáṇ

Join us for this artist talk, where Haseebah Ali will discuss her exhibition, People of the Garáṇ, with Dr. Neelam Hussain.

Access

For information re physical access of MIAH Foundation / Moseley Community Hub, please see our Accessibility Guide here. BSL live interpretation is available on request. This programme will be running on Crip Time. As a result, we endeavour to reschedule events should any of our contributors not feel well / experience a change in capacity in the lead up to and / or on the day of the event itself.

Tickets

In order to ensure this programme is accessible to all, we have implemented a three tiered ticketing system: Pay As You Feel, Standard tickets priced at £5.00 (plus eventbrite fee) as well as Solidarity Tickets priced at £10 (plus eventbrite fee).

If you would like to attend this event but cannot afford to purchase a paid ticket please get in touch with us directly at info@ortgallery.co.uk

About People of the Garáṇ

A solo exhibition featuring a new body of work by artist Haseebah Ali, showcasing historic Kashmiri objects from the MIAH Foundation collection.

This exhibition is curated and conceived by Aaisha Akhtar and Dr Farah Nazir and is produced in collaboration between Ort Gallery and MIAH Foundation.

People of the Garáṇ is an exploration of Azad Kashmiri stories, memories, and cultural practices that have existed beyond public records and archives. This exhibition invites us to reflect on both real and imagined space between the village and the city; from an agrarian past to a post-industrial present; and the ways in which rural village life textures diasporic geographies and peoples in urban Britain.

Inspired by the artefacts from MIAH’s collection, as well as everyday images, art practices, and traditions from her upbringing, Hassebah employs print, photography, textiles, illumination, sculpture and mixed media to trace connections between labour, care, migration, craft, and the remaking of home. Through these forms, Haseebah’s work draws attention to the internal and external worlds of men and women in her family across generations: their bodily labour, emotional endurance, and inherited practices. The artworks offer a way of understanding and connecting the Azad Kashmiri community to their own memories and traditions.

This exhibition is a contemplation on space, not just as a physical entity, but as something lived, remembered, and remade - a notion that is intrinsic to the cultural legacy of a community whose traditions and practices are often understood in form but not in meaning.

Ultimately, People of the Garáṇ is a visual account imbued with tenderness and a desire to celebrate, interrogate and document the cultural legacy and textures of Azad Kashmiri diasporic life.

About the Speakers

Haseebah Ali is an artist and arts educator based in Birmingham. Haseebah’s practice is a socially engaged one and spans across illustration, photography, sculpture, textiles with a specialised focus on relief printing.

Having obtained a BA in Illustration in 2018, Haseebah’s work has since been exhibited in a number of galleries including New Art Exchange (2019 - 2020), Ikon Gallery (2021), Eastside Projects (2023), Saatchi Gallery (2024), Soho Revue (2024) and more. Her artwork has also been featured in various publications including Thawrah (2023), Yellowzine (2022) and Creative Alliance (2022). Outside of this, she was a guest judge for BBYA (2022) and was recently awarded a DYCP via which she has explored traditional art forms employed in the global south such as Japanese woodblock, paper making and woodcarving in order to develop her practice as a printmaker, allowing her to transition from creating 2D work to more sculptural, experimental 3D work.

Her artistic aim is to create art that not only speaks to people, but to make work that continues to educate and challenge both audiences and herself.

Dr Neelam Hussain is a historian specialising in the intellectual and cultural history of the medieval Islamicate world. She has worked with departments across the University of Birmingham teaching on modules in Islamic history, art history, Islamic studies and research methods. As part of her work with the Mingana Collection, Neelam has worked on various projects and exhibitions on the 'Birmingham Qur’an Manuscript' - both in the UK and at an international level – working with the British Council and the UAE Ministry of Culture & Knowledge as strategic partners.

Neelam has presented her academic research and her advocacy on increasing the engagement of minority groups and people of colour in the arts and culture sector at national and international conferences. She has also published on this subject, with the aim to suggest ways to close the participation gap in the museum and heritage sector. She is currently serving as Director at The MIAH Foundation, an organisation she established in 2023.