Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Shezad Dawood artist

Shezad Dawood was born to a Pakistani mother and an Indian father in London in 1974 and was educated in the UK, where he subsequently established himself as a multi-media artist. His art practice, which is profoundly research driven, engages with multiple forms of expression, using painting, film, neon, sculpture, performance, textiles, virtual reality, and various digital platforms, to explore critical themes surrounding narrative, identity, history, and the body, often directly addressing issues around his own cultural heritage, migration, and refugees. A Research Fellow at the University of Westminster, his work is held in a number of UK public collections, including Tate and the British Museum.

Born: 1974 London, England

Other name/s: Dr Shezad Dawood


Biography

Artist Shezad Dawood was born in London in 1974. He is a second-generation immigrant born to a Pakistani mother and an Indian father, while also being brought up by an Irish stepmother. He studied at Central Saint Martin’s and earned his MA from the Royal College of Art in 2000, followed by a PhD in Fine Art from the School of Arts at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) in 2008, with a dissertation titled ‘The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: A Metaphorical Allegory in Three Parts.’

The exploration of his Pakistani-Indian-Irish family cultural heritage plays a central role in his art. Drawing on modern European and American aesthetics and engaging with his own experiences with different cultures, Dawood undertakes a sharp critique of identity in his work. At the heart of his practice is an interest in weaving together stories, alternate realities, and symbols to create complex and layered pieces. With a keen focus on the relationship between ecology and structures, Dawood takes a philosophical angle to art creation, often imagining different futures through what he calls ‘world-building’ and ‘imagineering’. His work is deeply research-driven, engaging with diverse communities to investigate themes of narrative, history, and the experience of the body. Some of Dawood’s work directly addresses issues of migration and refugees, particularly in relation to global warming and climate refugees attempting to reach Europe, often crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Sicily. These themes were explored in his group of textiles titled Labanof Cycle and the Leviathanexhibition at the Palazzina Canonica in Venice. A series of paintings on this theme was exhibited at Salisbury Cathedral. The initial Leviathan exhibition was further articulated in different locations. All of these projects were inspired by a 2016 visit to the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology at the University of Milan, which collaborates with the UN to collect and catalogue the belongings of those who died attempting to cross to Lampedusa.

Dawood has participated in numerous exhibitions thought his career. His 2016 solo exhibition at Timothy Taylor's London gallery, Kalimpong, explored our perception of time and how the past reverberates through the present. Using Kalimpong, a small town in West Bengal, as a focal point, he connected historical and contemporary narratives. These narratives wove together elements of Buddhism, painting, textiles, animation, and digital media. The title of his 2019 site-specific installation Visions of Paradise, permanently displayed at The White House on Becontree Estate, in Dagenham in east London, references the location once being considered as a comfortable working-class living space for the employees of the nearby Ford car factory. In 2024, he exhibited alongside two other artists in Madrid in the show: Human Fiction which explored the concept of a humanity reshaped by technology, science fiction, and ancient wisdom. The same year his works were include in the exhibition Salt-Kissed: Of Vessels That Have Sailed the Red Sea at the Hayy Jameel, Jeddah where the Red Sea and ships from history formed the central core from which to examine themes of trade, crafts, colonial legacies, ecology, voyage, and communities living by the sea.

Dawood has received several prizes and awards throughout his career. In 2003, he was awarded an Artsadmin Bursary, followed by a Live Art Development Agency One to One Bursary in 2005. In 2007, he received the LAFVA Award from Film London, and the following year, he was recognised by Commissions East. Dawood was shortlisted for the Jarman Award in 2012, and in 2017, he received recognition during Clerkenwell Design Week. Most recently, in 2019, Dawood was commissioned by Homerton College, University of Cambridge. In addition, he holds the position of Research Fellow in Experimental Media at the University of Westminster. His project integrates histories of place, narrative, and speculation, creating a series of sharp interventions within a broader inquiry into syncretism and dissonance. He does so via cinematic techniques alongside traditional media, such as painting and installation. A key focus of his research is how different media can be framed within cinematic possibilities. Shezad Dawood lives and works in Hackney Wick, London, England. In the UK public domain, his works are held by several collections, including the Arts Council Collection, Tate, Government Art Collection, and the British Museum. In 2019, his work Invasive featured in London's Sculpture in the City initiative.

Related books

  • Adam Heardman, 'Shezad Dawood: Encroachments', Art Monthly, No. 434, No. 2020, pp. 34-35
  • Tenzing Barshee, Kai Friese, Barbara Sirieix and Rosie Thomas, Kalimpong - Shezad Dawood (London: Tomothy Taylor, 2016)
  • Ziba Ardalan, ed., Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film (London: Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2014)
  • Gerrie van Noord, Shezad Dawood: Piercing Brightness (London: Koeing Books, 2012)
  • Sally Miller, 'Shezad Dawood: NARRATIVE, MYTH AND TRANSLATION', Wasafiri, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2011, pp. 33-39

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Leeds Metropolitan University (student)
  • Royal College of Art (student )
  • University of Westminster (Research Fellow )

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Horizon and Limit (group show), La Caixa Forum, Barcelona, Spain (2024)
  • Human Fiction (group show), The RYDER, Madrid, Spain (2024)
  • Salt-Kissed: Of Vessels That Have Sailed the Red Sea (group show), Hayy Jameel, Jeddah (2024)
  • Leviathan (solo exhibition), Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, Wilstshire (2023-24)
  • homeplace (group show), V.O Curations, London (2021)
  • OVERRIDE (group show), EXPO Chicago, Chicago, USA (2019)
  • Visions of Paradise (solo installation), The White House on Becontree Estate, Dagenham, London (2019)
  • Shezad Dawood Leviathan (solo exhibition), Palazzina Canonica, Venice, Italy (2017)
  • Kalimpong (solo exhibition), Timothy Taylor, London (2016)
  • Shezad Dawood: It was a time that was a time (solo exhibition), Pioneer Works, New York, USA (2015)
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Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Shezad Dawood ]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Shezad Dawood ] in the Ben Uri Library