In a World Where There are Five Women I am the Seventh

Shaheen is a well known Manchester artist who works in performance, video, sculpture and installation art. His work is based on his experience as a Muslim living in Britain, his identity as an artist and his own sexuality. This work developed from a residency in Pakistan, where the artist worked with the Khusra community (transgendered Muslim men). The artist was fascinated by the culture of beauty parlours in Lahore and in transposing the aesthetics of the Punjabi bride by going through a series of bridal makeovers himself. In this work he has re-worked five traditional bridal dolls detailing a range of wedding outfits and accessories. The inscribed wedding rings relate to QasimÂ’s sense of his own shifting sexual identity.