Amber Hammad

Amber Hammad is a Pakistani-Australian creative, living and working in Sydney. She has exhibited her artworks at various prestigious national and international galleries and museums (including being a finalist at the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Sulman Prize consecutively for the last two years). Galvanising her subjective agency as an artist, she has been creating works to claim her space, her body, and its representation, while investigating ideas around the representation and misrepresentation of Muslim women and their identity, within both the Islamophobic West, as well as the patriarchal Muslim cultures.

She is currently researching her PhD in Neo Sufi-Feminism:Illuminating the Veil and the Feminine in South Asian Sacred Sufi Vernacular (Through Self Portraiture) at the University of Sydney.

In the midst of the challenging backdrop of Covid-19 lockdowns, she embarked on a literary journey, extending her creative passion beyond visual media, and crafting her debut novel. Stemming from her art practice, through her writing she continues to challenge the prevailing stereotypes that often overshadow the lives of Muslims at large, and South Asian women in particular. In a world where the dual forces of Islamophobia and Islamization coexist, her work aims to shed light on the unwavering strength and resilience that defines her kind and highlights the subtle complexities of their existence. Drawing from the rich tapestry of her subjectivity, she hopes to inspire readers to reevaluate the intricate interplay between the personal and the political, particularly within the context of contemporary Muslim migration. Her literary offering will not merely captivate but also provoke contemplation, thereby enriching the literary landscape with an invigorating and thought-provoking perspective.