Huma Bhabha

Huma Bhabha (born 1962 ) is a Pakistani-American sculptor based in Poughkeepsie, New York. Known for her uniquely grotesque, figurative forms that often appear dissected or dismembered, Bhabha often uses found materials in her sculptures, including styrofoam, cork, rubber, paper, wire, and clay. She occasionally incorporates objects given to her by other people into her artwork. Many of these sculptures are also cast in bronze. She is equally prolific in her works on paper, creating vivid pastel drawings, eerie photographic collages, and haunting print editions.

Early life and education Bhabha was born in Karachi, Pakistan. Her mother was an artist, though did not work as one professionally. Bhabha's childhood home was full of art books, and her mother would often help her with projects. By high school, Huma enjoyed drawing and painting and had started to think about becoming a professional artist.

Travelling to the United States to study in 1981, Bhabha received her B.F.A. at the Rhode Island School of Design (1985), where she majored in printmaking while also taking classes in painting. After graduating, she returned to Pakistan for nearly 2 years. After her father died in 1986, she returned to the United States and attended Columbia University, where she earned her M.F.A. (1989). While at Columbia, she made paintings using found wood and metal instead of canvas, which allowed her to incorporate formal qualities such as shape, space, and color. She lives with her husband, Jason Fox, who is also an artist and whom she married in 1990. She has also noted that science-fiction and horror films, particularly the work of David Cronenberg, have contributed to motifs of puppetry and mutation in her work. Between 2002 and 2004, Bhabha worked for a taxidermist, through which she obtained discarded animal skulls. Some of these skulls have appeared in her work.

Exhibitions Bhabha's work has been featured in exhibitions widely in North America and Europe, including major group exhibitions such as "Fourth Plinth Shortlist Exhibition" at the National Gallery, London, Greater New York at MoMA PS1 (2005 and 2015); Heritage Store Rosewater Spray with Atomizer 8-Ounce Bottle USA Today: New American Art from the Saatchi Gallery at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2006; traveled to the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2007); the 2008 Gwangju Biennial; the 2012 Paris Triennial; the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010 and 2011); the 2010 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara (2010)

The artist's first solo museum exhibition took place in 2008 at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. She has also had solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (2012–2013), Collezione Marmotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2012), and the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen (2011–2012). Bhabha created a site-specific work titled "We Come in Peace" for the roof garden at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2018). Other solo exhibitions include ICA Boston (2019); the Sydney Biennale (2020); and M Leuven (2023).

Awards and grants The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, awarded its 2008 Emerging Artist Award to Bhabha. The award came with a $5,000 prize and a solo exhibition at the museum (September 14, 2008 – February 8, 2009). Her first solo museum exhibition in New York was in 2012 at MoMA PS1: Huma Bhabha: Unnatural Histories was organized by Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA PS1, with Lizzie Gorfaine, Curatorial Assistant (November 18, 2012 – April 1, 2013).

Bhabha was featured as one of sixteen creative thinkers in the 2012 film From Nothing, Something: A documentary on the creative process, which has screened at multiple film festivals including the Newport Beach Film Festival.

In 2013 Bhabha was awarded a Berlin Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin. In 2016 she was honored by the Museum of Modern Art, New York during the museum's annual "Party in the Garden" celebration, and also served on the jury of the prestigious Nasher Prize, awarded by the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (the prize was awarded in 2017 to artist Pierre Huygue).

Collections Huma Bhabha's work is included in the following public collections:

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, New York Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), New York City, New York Print and Stokes Galleries, New York Public Library, New York City, New York Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York Tate Modern, London, England. Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina