Upright Gallery in Edinburgh’s new exhibition features Ammna Sheikh, whose practice reflects her Pakistani heritage, celebrating the handmade, generational techniques and histories that have been carefully passed down in her family over the past 70 years.

Her art investigates the legacy of Islamic architecture, rooted in eleventh-century Persia and influenced by Turkoman, Chinese, Ottoman and Western European elements – a blend that shaped the Indian subcontinent profoundly under the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, with countless artisans and craftspeople transforming the region’s visual culture to forge a legacy that continues to shape Pakistani language and literature, design, arts, and crafts.

Working with traditional techniques such as screenprinting, weaving, embroidery and painting, Ammna’s themes are articulated through vibrant colours, intricate patterns and cultural motifs, often reflecting on colonial displacement and its impact on traditional practices, such as the architectural features of Islamic architecture, and laborious hand-crafted processes and cultural traditions, capturing both their historical significance and the vibrancy they bring to contemporary art.

Since June 2023, Ammna has received the RSA Patrons Award, The Edinburgh Printmakers Residency Award, Glasgow Print Studio Award and The NHS Lothian Charity Tonic Arts Purchase Prize. She lives and works in Edinburgh.