Hamza Ashraf
hamzaasifashraf@gmail.com
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hamzaasifashraf@gmail.com
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*CV & Portfolio PDF’s can be provided on request
Hamza Ashraf is a Queer Pakistani artist, writer, and documentary storyteller based in Leeds. Working across photography, poetry, moving image and installation, his practice explores the intersections of shame, worship, intimacy, love and queer identity through deeply personal and emotionally charged visual storytelling.
His current work often draws from his own lived experiences, combining archival materials, journal entries and scripted re-enactments to confront what it means to survive, to desire, and to perform the self. Ashraf’s process is one of excavation; unearthing the grief, tenderness and contradiction that come with being seen.
Since 2022, Ashraf was formerly co-founder and programme producer of DNI Collective, an art collective centring diasporic voices in the North of England, and since 2023 has moved forward to independent curatorial projects.
Ashraf is now currently a studio holder at SERF, an artist-led studio & project space in Leeds.
His current work often draws from his own lived experiences, combining archival materials, journal entries and scripted re-enactments to confront what it means to survive, to desire, and to perform the self. Ashraf’s process is one of excavation; unearthing the grief, tenderness and contradiction that come with being seen.
Since 2022, Ashraf was formerly co-founder and programme producer of DNI Collective, an art collective centring diasporic voices in the North of England, and since 2023 has moved forward to independent curatorial projects.
Ashraf is now currently a studio holder at SERF, an artist-led studio & project space in Leeds.
Education
Leeds Arts University
(BA) Hons Filmmaking
2020-2023
Leeds Arts University
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design
2019-2020
(BA) Hons Filmmaking
2020-2023
Leeds Arts University
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design
2019-2020
Solo Shows
2025 (Currently)
We Fear No God, But Ourselves
Village Books
Leeds, UK
We Fear No God, But Ourselves
Village Books
Leeds, UK
Group Shows
2025 (Upcoming)
Militia
Stretford Mall
Manchester, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2025 (Currently)
Fotographia Europea Festival 2025
Reggio Emilia, Italy
(Exhibiting Artist)
2025
Of Faith & Fractures
SERF Gallery
Leeds, UK
(Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
2024
MSMSw/ UFC01
SERF Gallery
Leeds, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2024
An Extrosepctive Introspection
n/oM
Manchester, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
Militia
Stretford Mall
Manchester, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2025 (Currently)
Fotographia Europea Festival 2025
Reggio Emilia, Italy
(Exhibiting Artist)
2025
Of Faith & Fractures
SERF Gallery
Leeds, UK
(Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
2024
MSMSw/ UFC01
SERF Gallery
Leeds, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2024
An Extrosepctive Introspection
n/oM
Manchester, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2024
Erotic Love (with AZUCAR Creative Space)
Light A Box
Leeds, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2024
Emerging Filmmakers: Screen Breakdowns
Good Shepherd Studios
London, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2023
In Our Defence: Re-framing Post-Colonial Grounds & Dilettantes (with DNI Collective)
Headrow House
Leeds, UK
(Co-Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
Erotic Love (with AZUCAR Creative Space)
Light A Box
Leeds, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2024
Emerging Filmmakers: Screen Breakdowns
Good Shepherd Studios
London, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2023
In Our Defence: Re-framing Post-Colonial Grounds & Dilettantes (with DNI Collective)
Headrow House
Leeds, UK
(Co-Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
2022
The Personal, Meta-Fictional & The Self-Referential (with DNI Collective)
Headrow House
Leeds, UK
(Co-Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
The Personal, Meta-Fictional & The Self-Referential (with DNI Collective)
Headrow House
Leeds, UK
(Co-Curator & Exhibiting Artist)
Press
‘Come impariamo ad amare? Hamza Ashraf ce lo racconta nelle sue fotografie’
(How do we learn to love? Hamza Ashraf tells us about it in his photographs)
GAY.IT
by Riccardo Conte
2025
‘OF FAITH & FRACTURES – HAMZA ASHRAF AND AYESHA ALI’S EXPLORATION OF FAITH, IDENTITY, AND THE RUPTURES THAT SHAPE US,
WURUUD,
by Salma Djalal
2025
‘Facing fears – An experience through art’
TAKINGUPSPACE
by Maryam Saira Ali
2025
‘10 Photography projects that look at the world with love’
DAZED DIGITAL
by Zoe Whitfield
2024
‘These photos are an archive of intimate memories‘,
DAZED DIGITAL
by Marigold Warner
2024
(How do we learn to love? Hamza Ashraf tells us about it in his photographs)
GAY.IT
by Riccardo Conte
2025
‘OF FAITH & FRACTURES – HAMZA ASHRAF AND AYESHA ALI’S EXPLORATION OF FAITH, IDENTITY, AND THE RUPTURES THAT SHAPE US,
WURUUD,
by Salma Djalal
2025
‘Facing fears – An experience through art’
TAKINGUPSPACE
by Maryam Saira Ali
2025
‘10 Photography projects that look at the world with love’
DAZED DIGITAL
by Zoe Whitfield
2024
‘These photos are an archive of intimate memories‘,
DAZED DIGITAL
by Marigold Warner
2024
Residencies
SERF Studios
Studio Holder
2024- Present
Dock Street Workshops (in partnership with Leeds Arts University’s Alumni Funded Studio Space Scheme)
Studio Holder
2023-2024
Debut Monograph
148 x 210mm
112 pages
Swiss Bound with Red Thread, Exposed Spine
2025
Curatorial Exhibition Programme
@ SERF Gallery
2025
5 mins
Short Film
2025
Sand, Prayer Mat, Quran on Wooden Stand,
Archival Journal Entries (A4 Paper; January 2005 - Uncle’s Entry, January 2025 - Artist’s Entry)
2025
Mixed media installation, 4 mins
Video, wooden frame with photo (Giclée print, 8x8),
brush pen on drawing paper
2024
Debut Zine
125 x 175mm
56 pages
Perfect Bound with Wrap
2024
Curatorial Art Collective
2 Exhibitions
2022 - 2023
9 mins
Super 8 Short Film
2022