Bio
Born in 1981 Pakistan, lives in Lahore
Imran Channa is a Pakistani visual artist. Channa’s primary interest is in historical documentation and how that documentation creates narratives, information and misinformation. He finds that historical narratives and the documents that create or support them are limited in scope and complexity. He uses drawing, moving image, installation and digital technology as means to re-examine historical documents and their influence, so inviting audiences to contemplate the contradictions of how we record and understand history.
Education
2008 MA (Hons.) Visual Arts, National College of Arts, Lahore
2004 BFA, National College of Arts, Lahore
Select Solo Exhibitions
2021: “Lost Pages From One Thousand and One Nights, Canvas Gallery Karachi, PK.
2019: “Dust to Dust” at Kang Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, DE.
2018: “Pasts in Particles ” at Twelve Twelve Gallery, Den Haag, NL.
2018: “Holy Water” Open Studio 2018, at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. NL.
2017: “Light on the Fringe of Time” Open Studio at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. NL.
2015: “Enclosure/Erasure”, solo show at Koel Gallery Karachi, PK.
2013 Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2012 Lik Likoti, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2011 The Memory is the Message, XVA Gallery, Dubai
2011 Twelve Gates Art Gallery, Philadelphia
2010 Badshahnama, Solo show at Tmproject Gallery Geneva
Teaching Experience
2021: Guest Teacher at Kinnard College for Women, Lahore. PK.
2021: Guest Teacher at Institute of Art and Design, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, PK.
2017: Guest Teacher at HKU – Beeldende Kunst, Utrecht, NL.
2007-2016: Assistant Professor in Department of Fine Arts at National College of Arts, Lahore, PK.
2915-16: External examiner for final year at Kinnard College for Women in Lahore, PK.
2015: Guest Teacher at Institute of Art & design, Jamshoro, Sindh, PK.
2015: External examiner for final year at Centre of Excellence Art & Design Jamshoro, Sindh, PK.
2012 : Guest Teacher Centre of Excellence Art & Design Jamshoro, Sindh PK
2009 Workshop at Centre of Excellence Art & Design Jamshoro, Sindh
2007-present National College of Arts, Lahore
Articles & Reviews
Quddus Mirza, “ Back to Baghdad” The News newspaper, Pakistan, 24th October, 2021.
Numair A. Abbasi, “ The memory of objects” Daily Dawn newpaper, Pakistan. 7th November, 2021.
Salman Peerzada, “Lost and Found” Daily Dawn newpaper, Pakistan, 19th October, 2021.
Zahid Chaudhary, Itinerant Photography: Medium and Translation in the work of Imran Channa. “Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice” Published by Bloomsbury, USA.
“Dust to Dust” http://www.fvu.co.uk/projects/dust-to-dust
Ella Bjurman, About the Issue, Sindh Guardian, https://issuu.com/sapac/docs/sindh_guardian_
Iftikhar Dadi, Spectral Memories, Tanqeed, Magazine of art and culture. http://www.tanqeed.org/2016/03/enclosure- erasure-imran-channa/
Zarmeene’ Shah, The Hidden Truth, Herald, May 2015, Pakistan.
Iftikhar Dadi, Spectral Memories, Enclosure/Erasure exhibition catalogue. Lahore
Quddus Mirza, The art of disappearance, Encoure, The News, April 5, 2015. Pakistan.
Rabeya Jalil, Reviews: Reworking Memories and Histories, ArtNow Pakistan.
Sadia Salim, A journey into abstraction, Daily Dawn, Sunday, April 5, 2015, Pakistan.
Interview: Re-aligning historical perspective: in conversation with Amra Ali. Dawn, August 11, 2013.
Alina Husain, “Art as communication” Herald, February 2013,Karachi.
M. Saeed Qureshi, Elucidating illusion. Daily Dawn, January 19 , 2013, Karachi.
Peerzada Salman, Lik Likoti opens at Canvas, 19 Dec , 2012, Daily Dawn, Karachi.
Shahim AKhtar, Imran Channa, Lik LIkoti” Pakistan art Review, Karachi.
“The Memory is the Message” Al Itihad, Saturday , 11th June, UAE.
Meilz Manfred ed, Painting The Persian Book of Kings Today. Cambridge: Talking Tree Books.
Ansari, Saira. Three Blind Mice, Papercuts Vol 7. online magazine.
Khan Naiza h. 2010. The Rising Tide, The Rising Tide New Directions in art from Pakistan 1990-2010:Karachi, Mohatta Palace Museum.
Nasar Hammad. 2010. Engaging Urban Realities Through A ‘Thinking’ Photography. TheRisingTide New Directions in art from Pakistan 1990- 2010:Karachi, Mohatta Palace Museum.
Imran Khan!.2010. Myth and reality. Pakistan’s rising tide. AlJazeera. 2010.
Asim Akhtar. PAUSE PLAY. Libas international Magazine, Volume 23 issue 22010. Lahore.
Quddus Mirza. His pupil’s voice, The News. Jul 2010
Nasar Hammad. Fatah jay Aassay Paassay. In the Milieu of fatah Halepoto, published by Green Cardamom, London.
Adamjee, Maheen Bashir. Messages for the Discerning, NEWSLINE, 31 May, 2010, Karachi.
Ahmad H, Ameer. Nostalgia, experimentalism and political games: ‘Making of History/Green Patrol’. Daily Times, April 15, 2010, Karachi.
Yee-Wan Koon, Blindness and Insight, MUSE , February, 2010, Hong Kong.
Select Group Exhibitions
2019: “Neighbourhoods and Communities” Sommerfest, at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE.
2019: “Engaging with Histories” at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE.
2019: “Badshahnama” 2 Person Show at XVA gallery Dubai, UAE.
2019: “Mera Safar” Koel Galleery Karachi, PK.
2018: “within /without ” Asia House London.UK.
2018: “Seen Unseen” Kasteel Oud-Rekem, BE.
2018: “Revelation: Reclaiming South Asian Narratives” exhibition and seminar at Harvard university, South Asia Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
2018: “Changing Places” Phoenix, Leicester, UK.
2017: “The Materiality of the Invisible” at Marres, Centre for Contemporary Culture Maastricht, NL.
2017: “The Great Wall” Karachi Biennale, PK.
2017: “Changing Places” Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, UK.
2017: “Taqseem” koel gallery Karachi, PK.
2016: “The Materiality of the Invisible #01” at Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL.
2016: “Hopes of Paradise ”, at Grosvenor gallery London. UK.
2016: “Vanishing Point” Artport, Tel Aviv, IL.
2016: “IFAA Contemporary Project Phase I” at Solutions! Musee de L’Art et de I’Espace, Paris, FR.
2015: “The Lay of the Land”, at Gallery Latitude 28, New Delhi IND.
2015: “Art15 London”, with Khaas Gallery, UK.
2014: “SINDH Reverberating sounds echo through the dessert” at Koel Gallery, Karachi, PK.
2014: “I.D” at the Islamabad Literature Festival 2014 by MyArtWorld gallery, Islamabad, PK.
2014: “Stet”, at LLF, Alhamra art Gallery, Lahore, PK.
2013 27th Annual Exhibition of Punjab Art Association, Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore
2013 Paper, XVA Gallery, Dubai
2012 Faculty Show at Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore
2012 Soul Searchers, 3 person show at Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad
2012 Band Baaja Baraat, IVS Gallery, Karachi
2011 The Return, 2nd International Festival of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art (MOMA), Algiers
2011 After All (curated by Quddus Mirza), Royat Gallery, Lahore
2011 Common Threads: Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Pakistan, Xerxes Gallery with NMart gallery at the Bastakiya at the Heritage House Gallery, Dubai
2011 Finalist Exhibition of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, The Rotunda, Hong Kong
2010 Contemporary Shahnama, millennium painting Exhibition, The Prince’s Foundation Gallery, London
2010 The Sovereign Asian Art Prize finalist exhibition, ARTSPACE, Helutrans, Singapore
2010 Creating Common Wealth, curated by Ragini Gallery, New Delhi, India
2010 Fatah Je Asay Pasay, Green Cardamom at V.M Art Gallery, Karachi & Sindh Museum, Hyderabad
2010 Structures Within An Intervention, The Guild Art Gallery, New York
2010 Making of The History, Two person show, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2010 The Havelian Express, CAIS Gallery, Hong Kong
2009 Tradition & Tension, Art Scene Gallery, Karachi
2009 Redo Pakistan, a traveling show, Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan, England, UK, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2009 Starring: The Artist, Indus Valley Gallery, Karachi
2008 Degree show, Zahoor-ul-Akhalq Gallery, National college of Arts, Lahore
2008 Young Artist Exhibition, Alhmara Art Council, Lahore
2007 Dropping Tears Together, anokha laadla collective performance, Alhamra Art Council, Lahore
2006 Places Real and Imagined, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore
2005 Voices, Pakistan Development Forum, Islamabad
Awards, Residencies & Fellowships
2021-22: Artist in Residence at EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, NL.
2019-2020: Artist Fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE.
2018: Artist Fellowship at Harvard University South Asia Institute, Massachusetts, Boston, USA.
2018-21: Recipient of “Werkbijdrage Bewezen Talent” by Mondriaan Fonds. Amsterdam, NL.
2013 Award of Excellence, AAP Lahore
2011 Gasworks International Residency Programme, London
2010 Finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2010, Hong Kong
2004 Merit scholarship, National College of Arts, Lahore
2003 Merit scholarship, National College of Arts, Lahore