maliha abidi

Maliha Abidi is a Pakistani-American artist and author based in London. She primarily works across painting, animation, immersive experiences, digital illustration, and installation. Born and raised in Pakistan, she migrated to the United States at the age of 14. Her experiences of migration, combined with a focus on gender, collective memory, and the South Asian diaspora, have shaped a multidisciplinary art practice spanning over 12 years. Her work has been exhibited in London, New York, Paris, Karachi, and Miami.

Abidi has been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 – Class of 2025. She is currently pursuing her MA in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art and will soon begin her MFA at Oxford University (Class of 2026).

She is the founder of Women Rise, a Web3 initiative focused on women’s rights and girls’ education through art, and BackPackX, a spatial computing platform centered on storytelling, VR based education, and innovation for marginalized communities.

In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, cycling, and exploring new coffee blends.

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clients & collaborations

Adobe, Google, UN Women, Vital Voices, Malala Fund, Chicago Bulls, IPPF, Charity Water, Instagram, Snapchat, The Pad Project, UNHCR, Lonely Whale, Camfed, The New York Times, Quarto Books, Voice HQ, Coinbase.

Maliha
abidi

Speaking

Exhibitions

Maliha is very vocal about creating inclusive communities and as an early adopter in the NFT space, she is the ideal spokesperson for a range of topics. Maliha has spoken on numerous panels, both in-person and online; a list of appearances is shown below.

Maliha has also been interviewed on news programmes such as Good Morning America and Inside Edition and has even conducted interviews herself, such as with renowned activist Malala Yousafzai. See a list of speaking events and topics where maliha has been a panellist:

Web Summit Lisbon

The future of learning and how NFTs will be used in the future. (2022)

NFTxNYC London

Harnessing the power of the NFT community for positive change. (2022)

Economist Impact’s Metaverse Summit (Moderator)

How Web 3.0 can create real social impact. (2022)

My BFF "BFF Minted" virtual event

NFTs and the importance of community. (2022)

London Short Film Festival

Rise of digital art and NFTs. (2022)

UnicornDAO Panel (SXSW Austin)

Women+ in Web3 and the Arts. (2022)

Rolling Stone x Meta Creator House (SXSW Austin)

Metaverse Creator Economy. (2022)

Female Quotient Equality Lounge (SXSW Austin)

Relationship-building, learning, and designing a plan towards equality together. (2022)

Twitter House (SXSW Austin)

Conversations Shaping the Next (Digital) Frontier. (2022)

USC Iovine and Young Academy’s Web3 Conference LA

How Web 3.0 inspires the redefinition of co-creation, ownership and community. (2022)

Vee Con

Community building and how to connect people and find value in each other. (2022)

US Chamber of Commerce Foundation

The Reality of NFTs. (2022)

NFT London

The World of Collectibles. (2021)

Real Vision Finance

Championing women of the Blockchain. (2021)