Azra Dawood

Installation view of Water/Bodies exhibition

Installation photo of "Water/Bodies: Sa'dia Rehman," an exhibition on view through 08/17/25 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. (Photo courtesy of: the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Copyright: Thomas Barratt Photography)

About

I am a historian, architect, curator, and educator. My work focuses on built environments and art practices, studying these within a global context. I am particularly drawn to topics related to cultural pluralism (as evident in sports), religion and secularism, and empire, philanthropy, and the environment. I have practiced architecture in Karachi, Austin, and New York City. After receiving a doctorate in architectural history from MIT's History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art program and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, I taught histories of architecture and architectural media at University of Houston, Bard College, and Pratt Institute. Currently, I am working on both academic and public-history projects.

My public-history projects include multiple exhibitions and public programs. At the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center in Poughkeepsie (NY), I have curated Water/Bodies: Sa'dia Rehman, an exhibition focusing on the human and environmental costs of dam construction globally. Water/Bodies will be on view through August 17, 2025. Concurrently, at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia, I have curated first there was a sea, a group exhibition featuring artists Baseera Khan; Utsa Hazarika; Divya Victor and Aaron Cohick; and Priyanka Dasgupta & Chad Marshall. Imagined as a “continuum room,” the space of the gallery explores the shifting intersections of religion and race that have shaped South Asian lives in the United States. The exhibition features projects that connect multiple timelines in U.S. and South Asian history, often through the use of objects and methods that speak to crossings or journeys. This exhibition closes on August 16, 2025.

Installation view of City of Faith exhibition

Opening reception of "first there was a sea," an exhibition on view through 08/16/25 at Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia. (Photographer: Zainab Zulfiqar)

Previously, at Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), I curated City of Faith: Religion, Activism, and Urban Space (October 2022-2023). Also at MCNY, I curated a web-based interactive timeline showing how the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020's Black Lives Matter protests transformed public space and life in NYC. My curatorial work centers socially-engaged approaches to public history, and has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, and other outlets.

Installation photo of "City of Faith: Religion, Activism, and Urban Space," an exhibition formerly on view from 11/17/22 through 10/22/23 at the Museum of the City of New York. (Photographer: Brad Farwell; Exhibition and Graphic Design: Isometric Studio)

My past research focused on the institutional projects financed by the Rockefeller philanthropic network in the early-twentieth century, reading these from the perspectives of immigration, the network's pursuit of social engineering, and early-twentieth century theological movements. A related article was published in the Journal of Architecture, “Building 'Brotherhood': John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Foundations of New York City's International Student House.”

Other hats I wear: I am currently the Curator of Academic Programs at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie.