Project Space Residency

Sobia Ahmad (PA)

July 15 – August 12, 2027

Artist Statement

My interdisciplinary practice spans experimental photography, moving image, and installation. Through DIY photochemical processes, I explore relationships between ecology, spirituality, perception, and embodied forms of knowledge. I am deeply influenced by Sufi devotional poetry and oral storytelling. The Sufi Wise-Fool archetype, which values simplicity and improvisation over certainty, guides my practice. Working with hand-processed film and homemade biodegradable developers made from coffee, washing soda, and plant-based materials, I approach the darkroom as both a material and conceptual site where uncertainty, chance, and process become central to image-making. Across my work, I am interested in how analog media can foreground slowness, tactility, and material transformation while opening space for relational and non-rational ways of understanding the world.

Bio

Sobia Ahmad is a Pakistan-born interdisciplinary artist whose work explores spirituality, ecology, and everyday ritual through photography, moving image, and social engagement. She received an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2024) and has exhibited widely at institutions and festivals including the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Beijing Experimental Short Film Festival, among others. Her work has been supported by the Wherewithal Research Grant and the Exposure Artist Grant. Ahmad is the recipient of Silver Eye Center for Photography’s Fellowship ‘25 Keystone Award and is currently a Hamiltonian Artists Fellow in Washington, DC.

Project Space Residencies are supported by The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The Joy of Giving Something Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Monroe County, NY. Photography-based artists participating in the program receive support from the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.