Ammna Sheikh, an Edinburgh College of Art graduate with a BA (Hons) in Intermedia, received recognition from the Edinburgh University Purchase Prize 2023, while being shortlisted for the Global Design Graduate Show 2023 and long-listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2024. Her work celebrates Pakistani cultural heritage, delving into handmade techniques passed down through generations. Sheikh emphasizes the significance of preserving handmade crafts amidst the growing dominance of digital technology. Her vibrant work explores colour, pattern, language, and comments on colonial displacement.
Sheikh’s pieces showcase laborious methods, highlighting the time and skill invested in their creation. Her fascination with handmade craft evolved through understanding its historical importance as a form of expression for self-taught artisans like the women in her family. Influenced by Pakistan’s vivid cultural backdrop, she draws inspiration from the vibrancy of decorated trucks, buses, and rickshaws that infuse colour and pattern into otherwise mundane settings.
Sheikh’s diverse artistic mediums, spanning textiles, photography, illustration, video, screenprinting, and installation, focus on tracing the evolution of language, traditions, cultural expression, and the history of craft. She explores the global integration of patterns and colours, akin to Pakistan, witnessing similar adaptations in art and cultural elements across various cultures.
