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KBT TRUSTEES
Art, the city and its people will always be at the core of our initiatives.

Shanaz Ramzi

Managing Trustee

Shanaz Ramzi was appointed as Managing Trustee of Karachi Biennale Trust in 2025; she joined KBT as a Trustee in 2024. Ramzi is an award-winning communications strategist, author, and cultural leader, she brings over three decades of experience in journalism, public relations, publishing, and social impact. She has authored and edited landmark publications, including the best-selling Food Prints and the Oxford Companion to Pakistani Cuisine. As Founder and CEO of StarLinks PR and Events, she has received international accolades, including Stevie, Global Women’s, and Silicon Valley awards. Through her leadership across numerous cultural, educational, healthcare, and heritage organizations, Ramzi has made significant contributions to Pakistan’s cultural landscape and social development.

Atteqa Malik

Chairperson

Atteqa Malik was appointed as Chairperson Karachi Biennale Trust in 2025. She is one of the founding members and Trustee of KBT. An accomplished entrepreneur, artist, scholar, and cultural leader, she brings extensive experience in international collaboration, creative diplomacy, and civic engagement. She is also the Director of GIA International Exports Pvt. Ltd., member of the Executive Committee of Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, and a Board Director of the Pakistan UK and Ireland Business Council, she has played a key role in fostering cross-cultural partnerships and global networks. Recognized for promoting Pakistani exports, supporting SMEs, and facilitating trade, cultural dialogue, and intercultural exchange through art and technology, Malik has made significant contributions to strengthening Pakistan’s international cultural and economic engagement.

Ainee Shehzad Salim

Vice Chairperson

Aniee Shehzad Salim was appointed and has been serving as Vice Chairperson of Karachi Biennale Trust since 2025; she is a founding member and Trustee of KBT. An accomplished educator, development professional, and entrepreneur, she has made significant contributions to teacher development and educational excellence in Pakistan. As Head of Continuing Professional Development at Karachi Grammar School and a CIE PDQ Programme Leader, she has led transformative educational initiatives and authored scholarly work on education and development. Recognized among the Top 100 Women of Pakistan, she is also an active leader in philanthropy, literacy, and community development, alongside her successful entrepreneurial ventures in interior design, furniture, and event management.

Farzana Tunio

General Secretary

Farzana Tunio has been serving as the General Secretary of Karachi Biennale Trust since 2023; she is a founding member and Trustee of KBT. An accomplished designer, educator, and arts advocate, she is the founding Director of the Art & Design and Continuing Enrichment Program Department at NJV School, where she has championed creativity, multidisciplinary learning, and arts education within one of Pakistan’s oldest heritage institutions. With a distinguished career spanning Pakistan and the United States, Tunio has made significant contributions to the fields of design and advertising, including creating the enduring logo of Interwood Pvt. Ltd. Her work has received international recognition, notably an award from the Creativity Show organized by Art Direction Magazine in New York. Through her leadership in education and the arts, she continues to foster innovation, cultural engagement, and creative development.

Asad Hasan

Treasurer

Asad Hassan was appointed as a Treasurer of Karachi Biennale Trust in 2025; he joined KBT in 2020 as a Trustee. Hassan specializes in business strategy formulation, port planning, executive search, education, healthcare, TVET, compensation management, HR, market feasibility studies, company valuation, and due diligence procedures. Industry experience includes HRM, DFI, construction management, supply chain, financial & management accounting and corporate finance areas. An experienced trainer who has conducted many workshops and training on various topics including corporate compliance, financial benchmarks for business managers, mercantile law, HR cost benchmarks, etc.

Nilofur Farrukh

Trustee

Niilofur Farrukh is a cultural interventionist based in Karachi. Her prolific five-decade career centres on decolonizing ways of viewing, reading, practicing, and writing about art and culture in Pakistan. In 2016, she co-founded Karachi Biennale Trust and as its CEO led four acclaimed editions of the Karachi Biennale through 2025. This city-wide international project created opportunities for public audiences to experience the transformative power of art with hundreds of works on themes that were relevant to their lives.
She is also the co-founder of ASNA that hosted four International Clay Triennials that created synergy between contemporary art and artisanal practices. Since the 1990s, Niilofur’s art criticism has been published in articles and columns in major newspapers like Dawn and Newsline in Pakistan and regional publications. As the founder editor of NuktaArt, Pakistan’s acclaimed contemporary art magazine, she expanded the spaces for art research. Niilofur has three books to her credit: A Beautiful Despair - The Art and Life of Meher Afroz (Lé Tropical Printers, 2020), Pioneering Perspectives (Ferozsons, 1998) and Pakistan’s Radioactive Decade: An Informal Cultural History of the 1970s (2019) (co-edited with John McCarry and Amin Gulgee, Oxford University Press). She also co-established NuktaArt: Pakistan’s Contemporary Art Magazine. She is currently writing her fourth book on early art histories of Karachi. As a curator, Niilofur approaches exhibitions as provocative spaces. In 2025 she curated “…connecting the internal and external time …” the First Retrospective of Meher Afroz (2025). Her global engagements include being the current chair of the “Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee” at International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and serving as a member of the International Institute of Public Art Prize at Shanghai University and being on the jury of AICA Young Critic Awards.

Almas Bana

Trustee

Almas Bana has primarily worked with not-for-profit organizations including 14 years with Agha Khan University with the last held position of Associate Dean, followed by stints in Kenya and Pakistan as CEO of school trusts managing their school networks. His strengths lie in developing strategic programs and managing their implementation. He enjoys working in multi cultural environments.
Almas believes that art in all its manifestations not only reflect society but can provide a vision for its positive development. It should be a harbinger of change in an open society. Involvement in the Karachi Biennale provides him with such an experimental opportunity. Almas has B.Sc and M.B.A. degrees from Pakistan and Certificate in International Management from Boston University, USA.

Nadeem Ahmad

Trustee

Nadeem Ahmad is the Senior Corporate Counsel at Orr, Dignam & Co., Advocates - one of Pakistan’s leading law firms. He did his Masters in Political Science and degree in Law from the University of Karachi in 1974. He has a vast experience in corporate law having specialised in advisory work and drafting of legal instruments. He has written research articles on various subjects published in prominent newspapers and legal journals including the daily Dawn and PLD. He is a senior contributor to the World Bank’s Project / Annual Publication on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ vis-à-vis Pakistan. He authored the Chapter on Pakistan in the publication of the Center for International Legal Studies of Austria titled, ‘International Franchising Law’ published in the USA. He provided legal assistance in the formation of numerous NGOs of international repute including the trust for the preservation and maintenance of the historic and picturesque ‘Baltit Fort’ at Hunza.

Seema Jaffer

Trustee

Seema Jaffer, is a Strategic Communication & Media Expert and CEO Bond Advertising, with an experience spanning 30+ years. Seema has served as the Executive Director & Key Expert for Huqooq e Pakistan, a joint initiative between the European Union & the Ministry of Human Rights. Seema works with the UNDP, National Commission for Human Rights & the European Union as well as EY as a Strategic Communication Expert. She also works with Globesight Dubai as a Strategic Communications Advisor.
Seema has served as a jury member for global advertising events including the Cannes Lions Festival of Advertising Awards, Spikes Asia Advertising Awards, Drums Advertising Awards and the Effies Awards. She also played a pivotal role in organizing Adasia 2019 in Lahore and serves on the EC of the Pakistan Advertising Association.
Seema holds board positions at Circle Pakistan, an organization dedicated to women’s empowerment & digital skills & Aahung, an NGO focused on reproductive health rights as well as RLCC, The Rana Liaquat Craft Colony.
Seema is a Trustee for the Karachi Biennale Trust & has served on the Executive Council of the Indus Valley School of Arts & Architecture. Seema is strongly committed to Women Empowerment and Human Rights.

Amin Gulgee

Trustee, Curator KB17

Amin Gulgee (b. 1965 Karachi, Pakistan) is a visual artist and independent curator living and working in Karachi. He received a BA in Art History and Economics from Yale University in 1987 and won the Conger B. Goodyear Fine Arts Award for his senior thesis on Moghul gardens. He works primarily in sculpture, installations and performance.

Amin’s praxis investigates unlikely connections to uncover alternative narratives, resisting conceptual categorization. His non-dualistic approach manifests itself in the materiality of his metalwork and is reflected in the philosophy behind his performative and curatorial practices. Amin has shown widely both nationally and internationally. His solo exhibitions include “The Spider Speaketh in Tongues” South Asia Institute, Chicago, USA (2022); “7” Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale and “7.7” Mattatoio, Rome, Italy (2018); and many more. His international group shows include “ENTRELACS/INTERLACED” Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France (2022); “Rites of Passage” Ostralé010, Dresden, Germany (2010); and more.

Amin has worked extensively with performance, both as a practitioner and a curator. Over the past two decades, he has presented over 35 performance works of his own both at home and abroad. He has also curated numerous group exhibitions at his eponymous non-commercial gallery in Karachi and elsewhere and was Chief Curator of the Inaugural Karachi Biennale in 2017. Among Amin Gulgee’s many public works are Steps in front of the Pakistan Parliament in Islamabad and Reaching for the Skies at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York. His work is in important international collections, including the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.