Hamza Ashraf
hamzaasifashraf@gmail.com
Instagram
hamzaasifashraf@gmail.com
*Portfolio PDF’s can be provided on request
Hamza Ashraf is a Pakistani visual artist, writer, curator and designer based in Leeds, UK. Working across photography, poetry, moving image, and installation, his practice explores the intersections of shame, intimacy, worship, belonging and his queer identity through deeply personal and emotionally charged storytelling.
Self-publishing forms a core part of Ashraf’s practice, where photobooks and printed matter become extensions of his poetic, documentary, and autobiographical narratives. His titles bring together image, text, and material sequencing to explore fragmentation, belonging and queer becoming. Grounded in emotional honesty and material sensitivity, Ashraf’s book-making treats the photobook as both a vessel for memory and a site of rupture, reflection, and reconstruction.
Ashraf is also the founder & creative director of Deepstate Press, a North-based publishing imprint and creative studio amplifying radical, queer & diasporic Muslim artists of Asian and African descent through archiving, publishing and activations. Ashraf’s projects have been featured by outlets such as DAZED, Fisheye, COLD Magazine, GAY.it and presented internationally at Fotografia Europea, Minor Attractions, Off-Print Projects, ICA, Village Books, Come Play With Me, SERF Studios & Transform Festival.
Self-publishing forms a core part of Ashraf’s practice, where photobooks and printed matter become extensions of his poetic, documentary, and autobiographical narratives. His titles bring together image, text, and material sequencing to explore fragmentation, belonging and queer becoming. Grounded in emotional honesty and material sensitivity, Ashraf’s book-making treats the photobook as both a vessel for memory and a site of rupture, reflection, and reconstruction.
Ashraf is also the founder & creative director of Deepstate Press, a North-based publishing imprint and creative studio amplifying radical, queer & diasporic Muslim artists of Asian and African descent through archiving, publishing and activations. Ashraf’s projects have been featured by outlets such as DAZED, Fisheye, COLD Magazine, GAY.it and presented internationally at Fotografia Europea, Minor Attractions, Off-Print Projects, ICA, Village Books, Come Play With Me, SERF Studios & Transform Festival.
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
We Fear No God, But Ourselves
Village Books
Leeds, UK
We Fear No God, But Ourselves
Village Books
Leeds, UK
Group Shows
Bodies of Resistance
Gunnersbury Museum
London, UK
(Exhibiting Artist)
2025
Militia
Stretford Mall
Manchester, UK
(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
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)
Fairs / Festivals
Transform Festival
Kirkgate Market
Leeds, UK
(Installation work on view for programme)
2025
Minor Attractions
The Mandrake Hotel
London, UK
(Book Launch w/ Village Books)
2025
Glue Art Book Fair
ICA
London, UK
(Publication present via Reference Point)
2025
Fotografia Europea
Palazzo Da Mosto
Reggio Emilia, Italy
(Publication on view at curated book fair)
2024
Off-Print Projects
Tate Modern
London, UK
(Publication presnted via Village Books)
Press
Fisheye Magazine - no: 73 (France)
by Marie Baranger
2025
‘Hamza Ashraf: We Fear No God, But Ourselves’ - Review
Soanyway Magazine
by George Storm Fletcher
2025
‘An Equation’ (Print Feature)
Viewpoint Colour Magazine (Netherlands)
by Barbara Guarducci
2025
‘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 (Italy)
by Riccardo Conte
2025
‘OF FAITH & FRACTURES – HAMZA ASHRAF AND AYESHA ALI’S EXPLORATION OF FAITH, IDENTITY, AND THE RUPTURES THAT SHAPE US’
WURUUD (USA),
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 (Italy)
by Riccardo Conte
2025
‘OF FAITH & FRACTURES – HAMZA ASHRAF AND AYESHA ALI’S EXPLORATION OF FAITH, IDENTITY, AND THE RUPTURES THAT SHAPE US’
WURUUD (USA),
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 Gallery
Studio Holder
OCT 2024 - PRESENT
Dock Street Workshops (in partnership with Leeds Arts University’s Alumni Funded Studio Space Scheme)
Studio Holder
AUG 2023 - FEB 2024