Dr. Sadia Shirazi

Biography

Sadia Shirazi is a historian of modern and contemporary art, specializing in transregional histories of South Asia and Indian Ocean diasporas. As a Canada Research Chair, Tier 2, in the History of South Asian Art, Architecture, and Visual Culture, she has received her PhD from Cornell University and has taught at prestigious institutions including Johns Hopkins University and the Whitney Independent Study Program. Prior to joining the University of British Columbia (UBC), she worked as a curator for international art at Tate Modern. Shirazi's research interests span art histories, architecture, decolonization, curatorial and museum studies, and art activism. She currently has a book project in progress focused on the histories of decolonial and feminist artists from the Indian subcontinent, the Indian Ocean, Japan, Europe, and the United States during the latter half of the twentieth century. Additionally, Shirazi is a writer, and her critical essays have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and art publications such as e-flux and ArtForum. She has curated exhibitions at venues worldwide and has served on juries, including for the 7th edition of the Jameel Prize: Moving Images. Her teaching and research center on transregional histories in modern and contemporary art and architecture of South Asia and Indian Ocean diasporas.

Research Interests