PhD Candidate; Islamic Art
she/her/hers
İkbal’s dissertation investigates Safavid and Mughal discourses around the legitimacy of figural images roughly between 1540-1640, which she tackles in their widest resonances—from the question of Islamic iconoclasm, to orchestrations of the emperor’s body as an object of devotion, to the poetic metaphor of the idol for the beloved, and its pictorial representations. İkbal’s scrutiny of such diverse materials reveals that Safavid and Mughal artists and intellectuals formulated the painter’s agency and legitimacy through a subversive appropriation of Islamic juridical stances on the figural image, and within a competitive framework over a politicized global artistic landscape. Her master’s thesis, completed in 2016 at Boğaziçi University, focused on early modern Persianate manuscripts of Nizami Khamsas.
Research Interests:
- Safavid and Mughal painting
- History of arts of the book in early modern Muslim lands
- Theories of art
Dissertation in Progress:
“Imitators of God: The Moral Economy of Safavid and Mughal Painting, c. 1540-1640″
2022-2023:
History of Art & Architecture Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Travel Grant Committee Member, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association
2021-2022:
Student-Faculty Liaison, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association
2020-2021:
Senior Editor, SEQUITUR
2019-2020:
Junior Editor, SEQUITUR