About — Zahra Mansoor

Selected work

Growing up in Pakistan, graduating from Parsons, and painting, performing, and hosting parties between Paris, Karachi, and New York City, Zahra Mansoor’s practice lives in liminal spaces, revelling in the tensions between duty and desire, and the public and private. Mansoor studies how Sufism is linked to Western metaphysics and Jungian theory. Her paintings explore hybridity through moments of repose, and tensions created by acts of revealing and concealing. Her oeuvres emerge underwater and fragmented—convivial yet solitary. They depict spaces where people seem oblivious to each other and to themselves, yet wanting to be known. Mansoor has worked with entities ranging from the Silencio club to the musée d'Orsay, and exhibited at Naranjo 141, Mexico City, Art & Charlie, Mumbai, with ModA Curations NYC, the Fondation Fiminco, Paris, and Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, amongst others.

Education

2025 Filière Artistes & Métiers de l’exposition, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2023 BFA (Art, media, and technology), Parsons Paris (The New School), Paris, France
2018 High school diploma, Karachi Grammar School, Karachi, Pakistan

Solo exhibitions, screenings, and performances

2022 We sin-phool women, Chawkandi gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2019 Discovering Habib screened at the Karachi Biennale 2019 launch night, Karachi, Pakistan

Group exhibitions, screenings, and performances

2025 Le Salon des Affamés, curated by Gayatri Juvekar and Tara-Tess Vatanpour, Paris, France
2025 Apples and Strange Presidents, curated by Ekaterina Shcherbakova and Julia Cistiakova, Paris, France
2025 Did you sleep well?, curated by Zoé Le Bacquer, Maison de la Vie Etudiante à Paris, Paris, France
2024 Raw Collaborative fair, Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, India (Upcoming, Dec 2024)
2024 Objects of Desire, NARANJO 141, Mexico City, Mexico
2024 Vacant, Cartels (Le Beau Monde), Paris, France.
2024 Brief Shalimar, Galerie Roshana, Paris, France
2024 Paysages Politisés, curated by TAK Contemporary, Art & Charlie, Mumbai, India.
2024 Being Human, ModA Curations, New York City, U.S.A.
2024 Ladies First, Kayal, Karachi, Pakistan
2023 A girl will return looking for the woman she was, Galerie D (Fondation Fiminco), Paris, France
2023 Femmes engagées, Prieuré de Salaise sur Sanne, Isère, France
2023 A seat at the table, La Chaufferie (Fondation Fiminco), Paris, France
2023 Bad Romance, Club Silencio, Paris, France
2023 Obsessed, Galerie D, Paris, France
2022 Marché jeunes créateurs, Fondation Fiminco, Paris, France
2022 Bridges Burnt screened at UnionDocs event, What is Asia?, New York City, U.S.A.
2020 Alienation, Artcade, Marriott, Islamabad, Pakistan
2019 Tumbleweeds, Gala Knorr, Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France
2017 The Crafter’s Guild, Royal Rodale, Karachi, Pakistan

Residencies

2024—present POUSH, Paris, France
2024 Cartels (Le Beau Monde), Paris, France
2023—2024 59 Rivoli, Paris, France

Selected curatorial projects

2025 Chère Melpomène, Palais des expositions des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2025 Shalimar Room, Memoire de l’Avenir, Paris, France
2025 Tomorrow will… Vie Projects, Paris, France
2024 Silencio Beithak, Silencio Club, Paris, France
2025 Shy Bride Bachelorette Party, Kitab Ghar, Karachi, Pakistan
2023—present Sexy Tambola series, The Dissident Club, Paris, France (Periodic tambola performances co-hosted with different artists and cultural figures)
2023 Baithak soirées, 59 Rivoli, Paris, France (Monthly events curating live music, tea drinks, and studio work)
2023 Bad Romance, Silencio Club, Paris, France
2022 An Evening with Sultana’s Dream: Stories & Music, Asian American Writers’ Workshop / South Asian Womxn’s Creative Collective, New York City, U.S.A.

Selected collaborations and commissions

2021 Sound of the north, Kathleen Ritter, Paris, France /Toronto, Canada
Coding and art direction on the artist’s sound archive project about the Canadian north
2021 Pad patrol, Aga Khan University hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Illustration for a campaign aimed at raising accessibility to menstrual hygiene products
2019 Acid crime and Forced marriage (Aagahi series), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Films, Karachi, Pakistan
66th Cannes Lions Awards-nominated short film series on Pakistani women’s legal rights

Selected professional associations

2024—present Brief Shalimar, Paris, France
Founder & Director
Brief Shalimar is a periodic, artist-run, experimental art salon, coined after Lahore's Shalimar Gardens, which were laid out as a Persian paradise "charbagh" intended to create an earthly representation of utopia—the Brief Shalimar aims to create an ephemeral utopia through collective, multisensory experiences.

2023—present Thousand Ways to go Home, Paris, France
Co-president
A non-profit focused on bringing together South Asian diaspora through creative initiatives, and promoting South Asian culture in Europe.

2022—2023 American Friends Musée d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Paris, France
Communications and events executive

2019 Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Films, Karachi, Pakistan
Animation and art direction

2019 Karachi Biennale Trust, Karachi, Pakistan
Documentary production and event management

Awards and grants

2022 Dean’s Honour Symposium, The New School, New York City, U.S.A. (For Sasui: a journey of love)
2021—2022 Grant award, Student Research Award (SRA), The New School, New York City, U.S.A. (Funded We sin-phool women)
2021 Long-list, Zeenat Haroon Rashid writing prize for women, Pakistan
2017 Top in the World in O Level Art and Design (M/J 2016), Cambridge International Examinations, United Kingdom
2017 ‍Top in the World in O Level English Language (M/J 2016), Cambridge International Examinations, United Kingdom
2017 Top in the World in O Level Mathematics (M/J 2016), Cambridge International Examinations, United Kingdom