Artist Bio: 
Alefiya Abbas Ali is a Visual Artist who specialises in Traditional Islamic Arts. She holds a Fine Arts degree and Postgraduate Diploma from VMCTA (King’s School of Traditional Arts), with a distinction.

Inspired by the sacred visual heritage of Islamic Art and Architecture, Alefiya is engaged in reviving traditional art forms of geometry and ornamental motifs using the traditional techniques.

Alefiya has showcased her paintings in many renowned national and international exhibitions. Her commissioned pieces are also held in several private collections.

She has also conducted workshops internationally with distinguished organisations, including Herfah (Qatar), King’s Foundation, Karachi University, VMCTA, IBA, Baytlfann, Global Centre of Islamic Arts, Danish O Ramish and Radiant Arts-India among a few. 

As an artist and educator, Alefiya bridges cultural heritage and contemporary art practices, sharing her expertise globally.

Journey:
Alefiya comes from the rivered land of Pakistan, where culture flows through tradition and is patterned into being. From the Indus Valley to today, this land speaks a language of forms — a geometry of memory, a sacred repetition of stories told through line and symmetry.

As a child in the Dawoodi Bohra community, she was captivated by the intricate patterns of masjids, madrasas and  mausoleums — living manuscripts that whispered divine order through silence and symmetry.

Curiosity led her into miniature painting and printmaking where patience is a form of prayer and detail becomes devotion. Along this path, she immersed herself in traditional practices – geometry, Nabati design and illumination painting. The disciplined grace of hand and eyes working in harmony. Each pattern she traced felt like rediscovering something ancient within. 

Her journey is not solitary. She teaches to pass forward what risks fading. In a world that overlooks these traditions, she serves as both student and vessel — preserving and sharing this knowledge.