The case of Humaira Abid is one of true defiance rooted in compassion. Abid defied expectations when she became an artist in Pakistan. She defied norms within that realm when she chose wood as her primary medium. She defies cultural taboos when she uses her sculptures to discuss the physical realities of being in a female body, from menstruation to motherhood. (This taboo is especially in Pakistan, where she was born and continues to maintain a studio, while based in Seattle.) She even defies what is thought to be possible within the wood medium through her remarkable skill and imagination.

Most importantly, Abid defies the cynicism of our time by approaching every subject anew, with subtlety and devotion. To Abid, history is not merely repeating when atrocities occur. The victims are not numbers and statistics. They are (or were) flesh and blood. The full bloom of this approach is evident in Searching for Home, which was guest curated by Jennifer-Navva Milliken.

Read the full article on Vanguard.

Humaira Abid at work on her mahogany barbed wire. Photo by Emilie Smith, courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum.