Jibran Shahid

Born in 1992 in Islamabad (Pakistan)
Lives and works in Rawalpindi (Pakistan)

Jibran Shahid is a multidisciplinary artist who works with drawing, painting and sculpture, specialising in the latter, to which he often applies ceramic techniques, with a particular interest in the medium of porcelain. He obtained his BFA from the National College of Arts, Rawalpindi in 2016, and his work has been exhibited locally. Shahid’s art practice is based in an exploration of classical beauty, from which point he deconstructs and then reassembles the basic component parts to create singular forms of hybridity.

Shahid’s artistic practice is epitomised by his ceramic sculpture for the Karachi Biennale 2017 entitled, Embrace of Death 2. By merging anatomical elements of the horse and the human figure, the artist develops the idea that the horse is an icon of human civilisation; at once befriended, domesticated, idolised and exploited by man, the hybrid form visually represents the cross-species entanglement. The highly-stylised form, deliberately exaggerated in parts, establishes the connection with the equine strength and power that has fascinated and inspired mankind throughout art history, and human history more generally. The evolution of the work’s hybrid form perfectly captures the aspects of the horse which have eternally characterised it as an expression of certain desiderata of human nature: unadulterated dynamism; aesthetic satisfaction; and spiritual aspiration.