Sadaf Naeem is a distinguished Pakistani visual artist renowned for her evocative explorations of femininity, domestic spaces, and cultural identity through diverse mediums including painting, sculpture, installation, and digital art.

Education & Academic Engagement
Born in 1978 in Lahore, Naeem earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, in 2001. She later pursued a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Hawaii‘i at Mānoa, graduating in 2022. An active educator, she has taught at institutions such as the Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design and Kinnaird College for Women. Currently, she serves as visiting faculty for the Master in Visual Arts programs at NCA and the College of Art and Design, Punjab University, Lahore.

Artistic Practice & Themes
Naeem's work delves into the interplay between the female body and domestic environments, often using her own body as a central reference. She employs techniques like papermaking, waxing, tearing, cutting, pasting, stitching, moulding, and painting, integrating materials and methods rooted in both craft and fine art traditions. Her art reflects on women's roles in various cultures, particularly focusing on their agency within emotional and physical labor spaces.

Exhibitions & International Presence
Naeem has held eight solo exhibitions across Pakistan and internationally, including notable shows at O Art Space (Lahore, 2019), Chawkandi Art Gallery (Karachi, 2017), Koel Art Gallery (Karachi, 2015), and Ejaz Galleries (Lahore, 2007). Her work has been featured in prestigious art events such as Asia Now in Paris (2024) and Huntenkunst in the Netherlands (2024). She also presented installations at the Karachi Biennale (2019) and Alliance Française.

Awards & Recognition
Naeem's contributions have been acknowledged with several awards, including the Nigaah Art Award in Landscape Painting (2017) and the Award of Merit in the Memory of Ethel Portner at Fiber Hawai‘i 2020 . Her work was featured in the publication “20 Pakistani Women Artists You Should Know," edited by Tauqeer Muhajir, with profiles by Marjorie Husain and Uzma Nawaz.