Hamja Ahsan

A multi-disciplinary artist, his practice has involved conceptual writing, building archives, performance, video, sound and making zines.

Reoccurring themes have been explorations around state crime, contemporary Islamophobia, repression of civil liberties under the War on Terror, and prison solidarity.

Hamja is the author of Shy Radicals: The Antisystemic Politics of the Militant Introvert, published by Book Works in 2017, currently in its fourth edition run.

[1][2][4] In 2019, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the thirty-third Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts for the artwork 'Aspergistan Referendum' based on Shy Radicals.

A work of speculative fiction that conjures a radical new structuring of the world, defined by 'extrovert supremacy' and a global resistance of shy and introvert activism.

[7] Between 2018 and 2021 the book was taught in a course on utopias on the undergraduate programme in English at Queen Mary University of London (by Joad Raymond Wren).

Through this work, in 2012 he was shortlisted for the Liberty Human Rights award for the 'Free Talha Ahsan' campaign on extradition and detention without trial under the War on Terror, highlighting the effective use of creative practice, art and film.