Dr. Izzah Khan

Biography

Izzah Khan is a third-year doctoral student in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the politics of authenticity, provenance, and the circulation of Gandharan art. She focuses on replicas, forgeries, and repatriated objects, exploring how these complicate the boundaries between ancient artifacts and modern productions, thereby shaping scholarship and museum practice. By tracing Gandharan objects through workshops, collections, and art markets, she highlights the entanglements of artisanship, heritage policy, and global demand. In addition to her research, Khan co-authored a chapter titled "Taxila’s Cultural Legacy: Transactions of Ancient Civilisations in Modern Communities of Gandhara City, Pakistan," which will appear in the book "Alternative Economies of Heritage" in 2025, examining how Gandhara’s heritage is mobilized in local and national contexts. Her dissertation is committed to heritage advocacy and institution-building. She is a co-founder of the Center for Culture Development and the Gandhara Resource Center Pakistan, and has held leadership roles such as Co-Chair for Antiquities Action at UT Austin and Secretary for the Pakistan National Committee of the International Council of Museums. Khan's work has supported her fellowships at prestigious programs like the 2025 Summer Institute in Technical Studies in Art at Harvard Art Museums, the MACS-CONNECT Digital Humanities Fellowship, and the URAP Digital Humanities Fellowship. Her interdisciplinary approach combines art historical analysis with digital methods and cultural heritage studies, supported by her proficiency in six languages, enabling her to work with a wide range of archival, epigraphic, and textual sources.

Research Interests