Fahmida Suleman

Fahmida is a curator responsible for the ethnographic collections from the Middle East and Central Asia. These include costumes, textiles, jewellery and other artefacts of daily life.

She obtained her Master’s and Doctorate in Islamic Art and Archaeology from Oxford University. Her Master’s thesis focussed on the nineteenth-century architecture in the Stone Town of Zanzibar, Tanzania, and her Doctoral thesis looked at the iconography of lustre ceramics from eleventh-century Fatimid Egypt.

Fahmida is currently working on the British Museum’s collection of twentieth-century Omani silver jewellery. She is also researching the costumes and textiles from the Middle East and Central Asia for a future publication.

Contact

fsuleman@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7323 8474

Current projects

• Adornment and Identity: Silver Jewellery from Oman. Exhibition. 21 January – 11 September 2011

Previous projects

• Shah ‘Abbas: The Remaking of Iran. Exhibition, February 2009

• People of the Prophet’s House: Art, Architecture and Shi‘ism in the Islamic World. Conference, March 2009

• Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan. Exhibition, February 1998

• Safavid Art and Architecture. Conference, April 1998

Honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies

• Editorial Board Member, Art History (Journal)

• Member, Islamic Art Circle, UK

• Member, Historians of Islamic Art (International)

Recent publications

F. Suleman, “The Image of ‘Ali as the Lion of God in Shi‘i Art and Material Culture”, in The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shiism, ed. P. Khosronejad, IB Tauris, forthcoming, 2010.

F. Suleman, “From Shards to Bards: Pottery Making in Historic Cairo”, in Living with the Past: Historic Cairo, eds. F. Daftary, E. F. Fernea and A. Nanji, The Institute of Ismaili Studies and Azimuth Editions in association with Washington University Press, forthcoming, 2010.

F. Suleman, “The Ethics of Figural Representation in Islamic Art”, in A Companion on Islamic Ethics, ed. A. Sajoo, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, forthcoming, 2010.

F. Suleman, “The Hand of Fatima: Origins and Significance”, in People of the Prophet’s House: Art, Architecture and Shi‘ism in the Islamic World (Conference Proceedings), ed. Fahmida Suleman, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, forthcoming, 2011.

F. Suleman, “Making Love not War: The Iconography of the Cockfight in Medieval Egypt”, in The Sensual and the Erotic in Islamic Art, eds. F. Leoni and M. Natif, Ashgate Press, forthcoming, 2011.

F. Suleman, “Selected Stories from the Anvar-i Suhayli”, a digitized manuscript project, The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2009.

F. Suleman, “How to Dress Cool in 17th-Century Iran”, in REMUS Magazine, British Museum, 2009.

F. Suleman, Contributions on “Art and Architecture of the Fatimids”, in An Illustrated History of the Ismailis, eds. F. Daftary and Z. Hirji, The Institute of Ismaili Studies and Azimuth Editions, 2008.

F. Suleman, “Introduction on the Qur’an and the Arts”, in Word of God, Art of Man: the Qur’an and its Creative Expressions. Selected Proceedings from the International Colloquium, London, 18-21 October 2003, ed. F. Suleman, Oxford University Press and The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007.

F. Suleman, “Ceramics”, “Gifts and Gift Giving”, and “Kalila wa Dimna”, in Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopaedia, ed. J. Meri, Routledge, 2006, Volume 1, pp. 143-5, 295-6 and 432-3.

F. Suleman, Reflections of the Fatimids (Documentary Video), The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2000.