PakistaniArt
Pakistan's first independent art magazine. Built by creative people, for creative people.
PakistaniArt is Pakistan's first independent digital art magazine and cultural platform, built to give Pakistani creativity the global stage it has always deserved. We cover the full breadth of it: visual art and miniature painting, independent cinema and television, architecture and design, music from Qawwali to contemporary, fashion and textile heritage, poetry and Urdu fiction. Artists, filmmakers, architects, singers, designers, photographers, writers — everyone who makes something belongs here.
How It Started
It began in October 2020 when founder Awais Shaukat, a Pakistani painter, illustrator and digital artist, started a curated Instagram community. At the time, Pakistani digital illustrators and animators had almost no visibility. That was the problem he set out to fix.
On June 11, 2023, we announced the evolution into a full-fledged publication. In June 2026, that vision fully launched with the complete magazine, directory and platform you see today. The scope expanded too: miniature painters, photographers, independent filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians, textile artisans, poets and writers all found a home here. We were not just covering culture. We were cataloguing it, championing it and placing it in front of the world.
What We Do
We publish features, interviews, reviews, artist profiles and cultural commentary. We run a structured directory of artists, galleries, artworks and events. And we report on Pakistani creativity whether it is happening in Lahore, Karachi, London or New York. Our journalism is independent and not influenced by advertisers or institutional partners.
A Milestone
In 2023, PakistaniArt received a nomination for Startup of the Year at the Global Startup Awards in the Central Asia region. It was a historic moment for Pakistan's creative ecosystem and a sign of what independent cultural publishing can do.
Our Mission
From day one, the mission has been simple: Pakistani art, in all its forms, should be seen, celebrated and remembered. That has not changed, and it will not.