قاسم علی Øسین
QASIM ALI HUSSAIN
ARTIST BIO
Qasim Ali Hussain (b. 1996) is a Pakistani interdisciplinary artist and performer based in Brooklyn, New York. His practice spans from painting and drawing, to installation and video, to dance and performance. Hussain’s practice is rooted in the idea of transformation through language, repetition and rhythm. Whether it's the shadow pushed through cycles of movement to transcend itself, or text becoming bodily texture, he returns to rhythm as a methodology of becoming. Repetition allows small movements of light, language, or form to build into something transformative. The work oscillates between movement and stillness, figuration and abstraction, sensation and meaning.
Graduating with a BFA in painting from Lahore’s National College of Arts and an MFA from Parsons School of Design, Hussain has exhibited in numerous gallery shows across Pakistan and New York such as Daastangoi and O’Art Space. He has also completed the Guti Artist Residency in Hunza Valley, Pakistan.
Hussain is also a dancer and choreographer and has worked closely with the Lahore dance company ‘The Colony’ and collaborated with major Pakistani artists such as Ali Sethi. His dance endeavours have led him to perform and choreograph (solo and ensembles) at esteemed institutions such as the Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore and National Academy of Performing Arts, Karachi and in New York City.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My interdisciplinary practice is rooted in the idea of transformation through repetition and rhythm. Whether it's the shadow pushed through cycles of movement to transcend itself, or text becoming bodily texture, I return to rhythm as a methodology of becoming. Repetition allows small movements of light, language, or form to build into something transformative. The work oscillates between movement and stillness, figuration and abstraction, sensation and meaning.
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Language is central to my work. I treat text as body—alive, moving, pulsing, and the body as calligraphy—a landscape, a voice, a gesture in motion. The curves of Urdu calligraphy and the structure of English words become visual voices, sonic environments, and emotional frequencies. These recurring marks—painted, projected, performed—form rhythmic fields and offer a visual language for queer joy and resilience.
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Through movement, text, and light, I explore the mechanics of self-making—queer desire rendered not as representation, but as refusal: a refusal of containment, of categorization—a sensual politics of escape, beauty, and becoming.
CV
EDUCATION
2025 MFA, Fine Arts, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
2021 BFA, Painting, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
2025 Re:Turning, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, New York, NY
2024 STAY, 25 East Gallery, New York, NY
Unholy Earth, 25 East Gallery, New York, NY
Invisible Persistence, 25 East Gallery, New York, NY
2023 Glimmers, Camp & Gore, 25 East Gallery, New York, NY
COLABS Showcase, Gulberg Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Ephemeral Stories, 130 E Sui Gas, Lahore, Pakistan
Stars of Tomorrow 2023, Pakistan Art Forum, Lahore, Pakistan
18th Emerging Talent Exhibition, VM Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2022 Red Light Area, HAAM Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Conclaves, Artescape Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
Satellite, Dastaangoi, Islamabad, Pakistan
Distorted Perspective, Ejaz Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2nd Anna Molka Award, Anna Molka Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Contemporary, Lakir Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Emerge, Dominion Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Guti Artist Residency Exhibition, Karimabad, Hunza Valley
Broadcast Vol. I, O’Art Space, Lahore, Pakistan
Affirmation, ArtSoch Contemporary, Lahore, Pakistan
Dewan-e-Wehshi, Art Fair, Lahore, Pakistan
2021 Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, NCA BFA Degree Show, Lahore, Pakistan
DANCE/PERFORMANCES
2024 ‘Interruption, Vol. 4’, Love, Brooklyn, NY
2021 ‘Sway With Us, Vol. 10’, The Colony, Lahore, Pakistan
2019 ‘New York in Lahore’, Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Zehrila Ishq’, Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Sway With Us, Vol. 7’, The Colony, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Levis Live’, 54C Gulberg III, Lahore, Pakistan
2018 ‘Dracula’, Happy Owl Studios, Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
‘Ghar Beghar’, Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Dracula’, Happy Owl Studios, Alhamra Art Center, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Sway With Us Vol. 1’, The Colony, Lahore, Pakistan
2017 ‘Displaced Society’, Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
‘Kolachi’, Shakir Ali Auditorium, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
RESIDENCIES
2023 Guti Artist Residency - Karimabad, Hunza Valley, Pakistan
Vast Artists’ Association, Karachi, Pakistan
AWARDS
2023 - 2025 MFA Presidential Scholarship, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
2021 Distinction in Painting, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
2019 Emerging Youth - Nigaah Art Awards, Pakistan
PUBLICATIONS
2025 Hyperallergic - Parsons Fine Arts MFA Students Help Us Navigate 2025
2024 Artist Talk Magazine, Issue 30
2022 DAWN - Artists’ Creative Diversity Attracts Visitors
Youlin Magazine - Art Review: Emerge
BOLD REPORT - Affirmations
LIBAS NOW - Our Top 5 Larger-Than-Life Art Works