Please join us to hear internationally-renowned, New York-based artist Shahzia Sikander as she delivers the 2025 Distinguished Lecture in Asian Art in Honor of the Lijin Collection. Sikander (born 1969, Lahore, Pakistan) will discuss her practice and the ways she has reframed South Asian visual histories through a contemporary feminist perspective for over three decades.

Shahzia Sikander’s command of diverse media and traditions, from historical South Asian miniature paintings to digital animation, reveals a vibrant visual universe that reimagines the past for our present moment. Throughout her practice, she considers diasporic experiences, histories of colonialism, and Western relations with the global south and the wider Islamic world, often through the lens of gender and body politics. Sikander is a recipient of the MacArthur “genius award” and the Pollock Prize for Creativity, among others.

This program is presented in conjunction with Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior, a career-spanning exhibition co-organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and Cleveland Museum of Art, with the Cantor serving as the final and only West Coast venue for the show. The exhibition, on view at the Cantor from September 17, 2025 through January 25, 2026, was originally presented by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Cincinnati Art Museum as a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia.

We gratefully acknowledge support from The Distinguished Lecture in Asian Art Fund in Honor of the Lijin Collection.

Livestream:
Watch live on YouTube.
Backup stream available on Vimeo.

All public programs at the Cantor Arts Center are always free! Space for this program is limited; advance registration is recommended. Those who have registered will have priority for seating. RSVP here. This program will be preceded by an afternoon convening featuring scholarly, artistic, and curatorial perspectives on Sikander’s work and its reception. Come join us for one or both sessions of this exciting program. Please RSVP separately for the convening here.

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Accessibility Information or Requests

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University is committed to ensuring our programs are accessible to everyone. To request access information and/or accommodations for this event, please complete this form at least one week prior to the event: museum.stanford.edu/access.

For questions, please contact disability.access@stanford.edu or Kwang-Mi Ro, kwangmi8@stanford.edu, (650) 723-3469.

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