Biography

CV



Saneeya Ghadially was born in 1985, Karachi, Pakistan, into a minority community from the Zoroastrian religion.

Challenged with dyslexia from childhood, reading and writing were always a struggle, whereas art, painting, and drawing felt more natural and communicative. Much of her childhood challenges shaped the way in which she thinks and perceives the world.

Saneeya Ghadially graduated with distinction with a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) from the prestigious Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, taking an additional year to double major in Traditional Miniature Painting, where she received the Zuhoor-Ul-Iqlak Award for best portfolio. She earned her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP), in the United States, with two graduate scholarship awards and the Judith Smith Koroscik Graduate Fellowship. 

Today, Saneeya Ghadially Kanga is an international, multi-medium artist. Her religion plays a key role in the ideologies that shape her work. Light and duality are prominent elements in her art. Saneeya has worked in oil painting, acrylic, water color, traditional miniature painting, printmaking, ceramic, sculpture, photography, sound art, and installations. 

Saneeya has displayed her work at galleries in several countries around the world, as well as at embassies and ambassadorial residences. She has also led courses at the undergraduate level in Pakistan and the United States, and has full teaching certification.  In 2011, she married a diplomat and became a “citizen of the world,” moving homes every few years. The constant change greatly influences her work and perspective on life. Saneeya has traveled the world, visiting more than 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. 

“My art incorporates patterns, movement, colors, architecture, and impressions of spaces I choose to study. Seeing beauty towards things that are displeasing is what triggers my sensitivity. Through process and experimentation, my ideas deal with the nature of beauty in reaction to aesthetic sensibilities. Understanding my work requires understanding where my aesthetics lie – in other words, understanding the way in which I see the world.”

Duality is a common subject in most of her work. Interpretations of dichotomy are usually explored in all her studies and Saneeya often exploits these dualities as expressions of life and the erosion of time as beautiful.