The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

A vertically oriented print portrait depicts a large, bald head in profile facing our right. The skin is overlaid with varied gray textures, merging with numerous small winged figures and birdlike forms surrounding the head. White swirling patterns fill the lower portion, while the dark blue-gray background is speckled with white dots. This stylized composition uses muted tones to blend the central figure into a dense field of organic shapes.

Portrait of the Artist

2016

Shahzia Sikander

(Pakistani American, b. 1969)
publisher

Pace Editions

America
etching
Sheet: 68.5 x 53 cm (26 15/16 x 20 7/8 in.)
Gift of the Artist 2023.209.1
© Shahzia Sikander
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Sikander has been incorporating self-portraits into her work since The Scroll (1989-90), her undergraduate thesis project at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan.

Description

Portrait of the Artist is a collaborative work that comprises four etchings by the visual artist Shahzia Sikander (Pakistani-American, b. 1969) and an accompanying text by the author Ayad Akhtar (Pakistani-American, b. 1970). Through their respective mediums, Sikander and Akhtar interpret the Mi’raj, an Islamic narrative about the Prophet Muhammad’s mystical night journey and ascent to heaven, in relation to the artistic pursuit.
  • 2016–23
    Shazia Sikander (the artist) [b. 1969], New York, NY, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 4, 2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior. Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel, Venezia, Italy (co-organizer) (April 20-October 20, 2024).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of the Artist|url=false|author=Shahzia Sikander, Pace Editions|year=2016|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.209.1