Masuma Halai Khawaja weaves South Asian spirit into the UAE art scene

It is very common for artists from Pakistan to visit the UAE and hold exhibitions here. As the country is growing in every field, the UAE is also becoming a regional hub for art and culture.

It is the diversity of its expatriate community that encourages artists from all over the world to display their art throughout the UAE.

Masuma’s journey as an artist started in Pakistan, and she has exhibited her work in Singapore, Dubai, China, the USA, Germany, Qatar and Colombia.

Masuma’s artworks were awarded the Excellence Award in 2016 and in 2020 at the Fiber Art Biennale in China.

“My initial language of expression was oil paints and at times watercolours and acrylics, but I have now started creating textile collages and embroidering garments and also moved onto moving images and short films,” she explains.

Masuma Khawaja.

Masuma has exhibited her work twice in Dubai. She exhibited her work at the prestigious Dubai International Art Centre (DIAC), which was a three-person show.

As there was a lot of interest in the narrative and the process behind her work, Masuma found it very encouraging to display her work in the ever-growing art world of the UAE.

“I loved the very cosmopolitan audience that came to the opening, where I had to explain the entire history and context to some, while others who shared the same or similar histories were more interested in the process,” she shares.

Masuma’s art practice explores pivotal points in recent history with a focus on South Asia. Informed by recounts and life experiences, Masuma counters state-fed narratives and unilateral textbook versions of history by addressing the psychological and sociological undercurrents of strife and forced migrations and their impact on languages, dress codes, religion, and mindsets.

Masuma has created many textile collages by purchasing tapestries and kilims from flea markets, which have been transformed into art pieces by the use of embroidery from Pakistan.

“Carefully cutting the embroidery into little pieces, I reconstitute the fragments to create an entirely different narrative. The ensuing account, while pertinent to the present, is detached from their individual truths, altering the original identity of the fabric by imposition of an account it is unfamiliar to. In this way, new histories and new memories have been created which have their place in the present,” she explains.

Masuma believes that the way art, curation, and artistic research have started taking centre stage in the Middle East, the UAE is already in the league with the other art capitals of the world.

Especially the fact that the Mena region, which, due to political and cultural histories, has artists that are constantly pushing boundaries and finding new and exciting forms of expression.

Masuma was one of the Visiting Artist Fellows at the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University for the 2025 spring semester. This was an impressive opportunity for Masuma to have one-on-one meetings with scholars, professors, and curators.

“I loved exploring the library collections with help from the extremely well-informed librarians and going through old documents and artist books,” she recalls.

Masuma continues to explore the possibilities of displaying more of her artwork in the ever-evolving cultural hub of the UAE.