Meherunnisa Asad

A multidisciplinary artist, Meherunnisa Asad reinvents the heritage of the applied arts through a resolutely contemporary perspective. By combining stone mosaic with a constellation of artisanal crafts, she develops a subtle visual language in which the precision of ancestral techniques opens onto new forms of expression. Her practice affirms the continuity of a living heritage that she reinterprets and renews in the present, while fostering a collective reflection on memory, identity, and resilience.

From an early age, Meherunnisa Asad explored the iconic art and antique bazaars of the historic city of Peshawar, where she found the roots of her interest in art and the decorative arts. A graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, and Pratt Institute in New York, she first worked as a conservation architect with the Aga Khan Historic Cities Program. Today, as Artistic Director of Studio Lél, founded thirty years ago by her mother Farhana, she is a recipient of awards from the Gates Foundation and the World Craft Council.

The art of stone mosaic lies at the heart of her artistic practice. For the Florentines of the Italian Renaissance in the 16th century, who brought Pietra Dura to its peak, this meticulous assembly of stones into complex and refined forms was considered an act of painting: “painting in stone.” Meherunnisa Asad now pushes these boundaries, exploring its creative possibilities by merging stone mosaic with a wide range of techniques: sculpture, verre églomisé (engraving on glass), scagliola (plaster inlay), cloisonné (enameling), as well as copper, brass, and woodwork. To this virtuoso garden of techniques, she adds references to the composite painting traditions of Indian and Persian art, incorporating precious and semi-precious stones into her works.

Meherunnisa Asad reinvents the art of stone as a dynamic and evolving language, while grounding her practice in a societal engagement. For her, creation is inseparable from community resilience. Just as Pietra Dura assembles fragments of stone into intricate compositions, she seeks to bring together a community fractured by conflict, creating spaces of healing, collaboration, and renewal. By working with both local artisans and Afghan artisans displaced in Pakistan, she strengthens both the transmission of artisanal crafts and a collective reflection on memory and cultural identity. Through this process, she works toward the reappropriation of forgotten narratives and the reconstruction of Pashtun identity in Pakistan and on the international stage.

Meherunnisa Asad was born in 1977 in Peshawar, Pakistan. She holds degrees from the National College of Arts in Lahore and Pratt Institute in New York. She currently lives between Egypt and Pakistan.