Leeza Ahmady
Leeza Ahmady is a New York based independent curator and educator born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is recognized for organizing large-scale festivals, exhibitions, artistic collaborations, and experimental forums revolving around contemporary art practices from across all regions of Asia. She is the founder of AhmadyArts and director of New York's curatorial and educational platform Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) since 2006. Major accomplishments. Ongoing curatorial. Presented artists of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at The Venice Biennial (2005) Istanbul Biennial (2005 & 2007) and Asia Art Archive (2006) Hong Kong. Other related collaborations: "The  Taste of Others" at Apexart (2005); "The Paradox of Polarity: Contemporary Art from Central Asia" at Bose Pacia (2007); "Parable of the Garden: New Media Art from Iran and Central Asia" at The College of New Jersey Art Gallery (2008); "I Dream of the Stans" at Winkleman Gallery, which traveled to MARTE Museo de Arte de El Salvador (2008); Mathaf-Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar (2013). Ahmady has directed 8 editions of the Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) in partnership with institutions including Asia Society Museum, The Armory Show, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art , Performa Biennial, Queens Museum, Residency Unlimited, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Ab/Anbar Gallery (Tehran), Lisson Gallery (London), M+ Museum (Hong Kong) Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Alserkal Avenue (Dubai), Chi-Wen Gallery (Taipei), Edouard Malingue Gallery (Hong Kong), Galeri Zilberman (Istanbul) Ink Studio (Beijing), MABSOCIETY (Shanghai), Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur) Space Station (Beijing), Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi). As Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW)'s signature forum, Field meeting have hosted at Asia Society Museum (2014, 2016 & 2017), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Performa Biennial & Venice Biennial (2015), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2016), SVA MA Curatorial Practice (2017), and  Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, UAE (2019). Artists and Art Professionals involved in past editions: Tom Finkelpearl, Haig Aivazian, Lu Yang, Cao Fei, Heri Dono, Yu Cheng-Ta, Song Dong, Shilpa Gupta, Li Shurui, Reena Kallat, Map Office, Patty Chang, Holland Cotter, Christopher K. Ho, Shuddha Sengupta, Anthony Lee, Lee Mingwei, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Tang Dixin, Basel Abbas, Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Xyza Cruz Bacani, Shezad Dawood, Erin Gleeson, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige, Ho Tzu Nyen, Mami Kataoka, Rashid Rana, Jonas Staal, Mithu Sen, Nancy Adajania, Meitha Al Mazrooei, Marwa Arsanios, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Laura Barlow, Tiffany Chung, Simon Fujiwara, Joyce Ho, Hu Weiyi , Taus Makhacheva, Kingsley Ng, Suhanya Raffel, Marat Raiymkulov, Philip Tinari, Hajra Waheed, Adrian Wong, Brian Kuan Wood, Khadim Ali, Stephanie Bailey, Burçak Bingöl, Bingyi, Heman Chong, Nikhil Chopra, Pi Li, Arahmaiani Feisal, Hasanul Isyraf Idris, Ranbir Kaleka, River Lin, Umber Majeed, Bassem Saad & Edwin Nasr, Sam Samiee, Moe Satt, Wong Kit Yi / Ali Wong, Chongbin Zheng Other accomplishments. Leeza Ahmady has presented many other related exhibitions & public programs in collaboration with multiple universities, art fairs, biennials and arts organizations. She has spoken at many art galleries and educational institutions, including Duke University and the National Museum of Kazakhstan. Ahmady is  the founder of NURTURArt Non Profit and School of Hope as well as advisor to several arts organizations in the US and Asia. She has worked with Center for Contemporary Art in Afghanistan (CCAA), Venice Biennale(2004 - 2005), Istanbul Biennial (2007), Bose Pacia Gallery New York (2007), The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Art Singapore, The College of New Jersey Art Gallery, Winkleman Gallery New York (2008), Art Asia Fair in Miami, Queens Museum in New York (2009) Devi Art Foundationin New Delhi India, (2008-2010), Eslite Gallery, Taipei Taiwan (2013), Osage Gallery Hong Kong, Art Dubai, Solomon R Guggenheim  Museum UBS MAP Global Art Initiative (2013) Tyler Rollins Fine Art New York (2014), Inaugural Seattle Art Fair (2015) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2015). Education. Ahmady received her BA Degree from St. John's University (1994) in International Relations with a minor in Art History. In her junior year, she attended Budapest University as part of a study abroad program focusing on the Eastern European transformation from the Communist System into the Market System. She later studied Art History at Hunter College (2001- 2003) as a Graduate Level Non-Degree student. She received her MA Degree from Pratt  Institute (2005) in Arts and Cultural Management with her final thesis concentrating on the development and practice of contemporary art in Central Asia.