Maham Akhtar is a textile artist and material researcher based in New York and a graduate of Parsons School of Design. Working at the intersection of textile, sculpture, and material research, she creates installations and tactile structures through fiber, materiality and experimentation. Her practice explores textile as both a spatial and emotional medium.
Through labor intensive processes and repetitive gestures, Akhtar examines the physical and psychological relationship between the body and material. Her practice investigates binaries through color, material, and form - organic and industrial, black and white, softness and structure - exploring how opposing elements can coexist, depend on one another, and gradually transform through repetition and accumulation.
Her work often emerges through an intuitive dialogue with material, allowing process to shape form organically. Rooted in both personal and political inquiry, her practice reflects on borders, belonging, inherited systems, and the unseen structures that shape human experience.
Contact
Instagram: @mahkhtar
Education
Parsons School of Design New York
MFA in Textiles May 2026
Beaconhouse National University Pakistan
B.Des in Textile and Fiber Studies May 2021
Washington Square Park Conservancy – New York
August 2026
Välitila Studio – Hensilki, Finland
March 2026
Exhibitions
Group Exhibition – Parsons School of Design Welcome Center, New York
Nov 2025 – Feb 2026
Group Exhibition – Neural Backup, A Space Gallery, New York
Sep 2025
Open Studio – Parsons School of Design, New York
2024 – 2026