HIBA SCHAHBAZ AT MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART NORTH MIAMI
Posted on
By Divya Gangwani
HIBA SCHAHBAZ AT MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART NORTH MIAMI Highlighting the ART FOR CHANGE artist’s recent exhibition and press
Photo Courtesy of MOCA North Miami
“The Garden” is Hiba Schahbaz’s first major retrospective. The exhibition brings together her signature motifs, including global allegory, a feminist perspective, and fantastical beings that move between elemental realms and human architecture.
These themes are framed through the concept of Jannat, or the “Paradise Garden,” drawn from Islamic tradition and Sufi poetry.
The exhibition is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami until March, 2026.
At MOCA North Miami, Hiba Schahbaz’s “The Garden” expands on themes similarly explored in earlier works such as ART FOR CHANGE’s “Dreaming at Sunset”. Both touch on inviting viewers into a living terrain where myth, history, and imagination intertwine.
HIBA SCHAHBAZ Dreaming at Sunset 18 x 24 inches Archival pigment print Limited Edition of 10 with 6AP + 1PP Hand-embellished, signed, and numbered by the artist
As in her other works, Schahbaz addresses issues of personal freedom, destruction, sexuality and censorship. Schahbaz’s work unveils the beauty, fragility and strength of the female form. Each print is hand-embellished with watercolor, gouache, gold leaf, collaged elements, and a written blessing, making every piece unique.
EXPLORING THE FOUR ELEMENTS IN HER SOLO SHOW
Photo Courtesy of Charlie Rubin, Vogue
Curator Jasmin Wahi on Schahbaz’s solo show states, “At its core, the exhibition centers on the notion of a magical garden—a space of transformation, imagination, and renewal. Divided into sections after the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—the show reflects both the natural world and the symbolic dimensions within Hiba’s practice.”
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Hiba Schahbaz is a Brooklyn-based figurative painter who works primarily with paper, black-tea, and water based pigments. Her subjects, largely drawn from her lifelong practice of self portraiture, inhabit a dreamlike, all-female world. Addressing issues of personal freedom, destruction, sexuality and censorship, Schahbaz’s work unveils the beauty, fragility and strength of the female form.
