GRAIN Projects (UK) and Tasweerghar (Pakistan) announce the four artists who will be taking part in the New Narratives in Photography project as part of the British Council Pakistan Arts Residency Grants Programme 2023-2024.

Artists Asad Ali, Hira Noor, Ume Laila and Waleed Zafar, all of whom use photography in new and innovative ways to comment on our lives today, have been awarded the four residency places.

GRAIN and Tasweerghar are arts organisations that create new opportunities for diverse and emerging artists and photographers, supporting the development of skills and opportunities. In collaboration they will deliver a residency project that supports diverse and marginalised Pakistani artists curated in the context of prevalent themes including social justice, identity, gender, diaspora and home.

The four successful artists will have the opportunity to collaborate and network in Pakistan and the UK, take part in a bespoke mentoring programme, make and exhibit new work in Pakistan and the UK and have their artwork and practice amplified within the visual arts sector and more broadly. The opportunity will include a research and networking visit to the UK. At the end of the project the artists will exhibit their work at the Tasweerghar gallery space and in Birmingham, UK.

The artists that are taking part all have a unique and personal approach to photography, are ambitious in their work and have something to say about the world we live in. They come from a place of care, compassion and collaboration; their work is based on research and conversation and their artwork is of great relevance and interest, both as emerging practitioners in Pakistan, and to the photography scene internationally.

Image credit: Waleed Zafar