About

artist bio

Fatima Butt (b. Saudi Arabia) is an artist and curator based between Lahore and Oxford. She works with drawing, text, performance, the garden and the kitchen — most recently an Oxford college kitchen, where she cooked her way through the potato’s arrival in the subcontinent and out the other side into partition. She recently completed her MFA with Distinction at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, supported by the Oxford Sir Anwar Pervez Scholarship, and is the recipient of the Egerton Coghill Landscape Prize and the Ruskin Research Fund. She holds a BFA with Distinction from Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, where she later returned as a lecturer and thesis advisor. She is co-founder of LAKIR, an artist-led gallery in Lahore, and of the artist duo Hum-sar, recipient of the Südkulturfonds Artist Grant. Her work has been shown internationally, including at the Sharjah Art Foundation, the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and COMO Museum, and she is a recipient of the Franco-German Cultural Fund. Her preferred archive is the potato: cheap, buried, and difficult to account for.

currently at the ruskin school of art, university of oxford

exhibitions

FAF, Food Art Fair, Ladbroke Hall, London — 2026

Solo presentation, ‘Good Mourning’, Dolphin Gallery, St John’s College, Oxford — 2026

‘Breath Broth’, workshop by Publick Knowledge, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford — 2026

Delegate, Counterflows Festival, Glasgow, Scotland — 2026

Group exhibition, ‘love, beams, bricks, dreams’, The Long Room, New College, Oxford — 2025

Two-person exhibition, ‘the weight of elsewhere’, Kaleido Kontemporary, Lahore — 2025

Group exhibition, ‘Fractured & Fluid’, Kaleido Kontemporary, Lahore — 2025

‘Domestic Provocations’, Thinkfest ’25, Alhamra Arts Council — 2025

‘Not/nor an enrapture of’, Roadside Cafe, LBF Collateral Event, Lahore — 2024

‘Food for Thought’, workshop, LBF Collateral, Qazi Apex Grammar School, Lahore — 2024

‘Museum of Repairing Reminiscences’, Vasl Artists Association, Karachi — 2024

Group exhibition, ‘Small Works’, Kaleido Kontemporary, Lahore — 2023 (as Hum-sar)

‘Kollectif’, Dogo Residency, Lichtensteig, Switzerland — 2023 (as Hum-sar)

Photo exhibition, ‘Photographs’, COMO Museum, Lahore — 2023

Artist-in-Residence, Dogo Residency, Lichtensteig, Switzerland, funded by Südkulturfonds — 2023 (as Hum-sar)

‘Metaverse Bodies’, Lahore Digital Arts Festival — 2023

Group exhibition, ‘You Do You’, Dominion Gallery, The Colony, Lahore — 2022

Open Studio, June Collective, Lahore — 2022 (as Hum-sar)

Film Festival, Women’s International Film Festival, PNCA, Islamabad — 2022

Performance art exhibition, ‘Avant-‘, COMO Museum, Lahore — 2021

Film Festival, ArtDivvy, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore — 2021

Group exhibition, ‘Vantage Point Sharjah 9’, Sharjah Art Foundation — 2021

Group exhibition, ‘Remote Closeness’, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts / Goethe-Institut Jordan / Institut Français de Jordanie — 2021

BFA Degree Show, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore — 2021

Art pop-up, ‘Circus Excursus’, The RoadSide Cafe, Mochi Gate, Lahore — 2021

Virtual performance art exhibition, ‘Room of Thought’ — GROVE, The Sunflower Collective, In_process Live Art Practice, Experimental Dance Week Aotearoa — 2020

Group performance art exhibition, ‘We’ve Been Waiting for You’, House Ltd. with Justice Project Pakistan, Bari Film and TV Studios, Lahore — 2019

Group performance art exhibition, ‘Aao Kyun Ke, Crosscut: Consumerism and Ethics’, House Ltd. with LUMS Gurmani Foundation, Lahore — 2019

curatorial projects

Co-Curator, ‘after the arrangement’, Lakir Gallery in collaboration with NCA Triennale and National College of Arts, Lahore — 2025
Co-Curator, ‘Women vs Machines’, Beaconhouse National University in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair on Inclusion through Art / The Little Art / French Institute, Lahore — 2025

achievements & awards

Distinction, MFA Visual Arts, University of Oxford — 2026
Egerton Coghill Landscape Prize — 2026
Ruskin Research Fund — 2026
Oxford Sir Anwar Pervez Scholarship (100% course fee + stipend) — 2025
Südkulturfonds Artist Grant (as Hum-sar) — 2023
Artist Grant, Franco-German Cultural Fund — 2021
Distinction, BFA Visual Arts; Dean’s Honours List (2017–2021) — 2021

trainings

Humanities Researcher Development Training: Understanding Audiences / Connecting Communities, Humanities Division, University of Oxford — 2026
An Introduction to Adult Safeguarding, Oxfordshire Adult Safeguarding Board — 2026
Kitchen Health & Safety / Food Hygiene Training, Wolfson College Kitchen, University of Oxford — 2026
Safeguarding & Consent Training, Student Welfare & Support Services, University of Oxford — 2026

professional experience

Co-Founder, LAKIR Gallery, LahoreMay 2021 – Present

Art/Design Lead, Wolfson Ball 2026, Wolfson College, University of OxfordDec 2025 – May 2026

Artist Relations Manager, Odd Bird Art, SingaporeAug 2022 – May 2023

Growth & Marketing Manager / Project Lead, Tasweerghar, LahoreApr 2020 – Dec 2022

teaching experience

Lecturer, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore2022 – 2025

Thesis Advisor, Final Year BFA, Beaconhouse National University2025

Teaching Associate, Beaconhouse National University2021

Middle School Art Teacher, Lahore Grammar SchoolJan – Jul 2022

community workshops & volunteering

Workshop Facilitator, ‘Food for Thought’, LBF CollateralApr 2023 – Dec 2024

Volunteer, Restore (The Beehive), Cowley, OxfordFeb 2026 – Present

Volunteer, Cutteslowe Greenhouse Community Garden, OxfordMar 2026 – Present

Skillshare Workshop Lead, Waste2Taste, OxfordMay 2026

languages

English (fluent)
Urdu (fluent)
Arabic (conversational)

education

Master of Fine Art, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford — 2025–2026
Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons), Visual Arts, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore — 2017–2021

American High School Diploma, Jubail International School, Saudi Arabia — 2014–2017