Born in Mumbai in 1989, Areez Katki migrated with his family to New Zealand in 2002. Since growing up in East Auckland, Katki graduated with a BA in Art History and English (University of Auckland) and an MA in Creative Writing (International Institute of Modern Letters, Wellington).

In 2018 Katki returned to his ancestral Parsi home in Mumbai, which led to broader research trips around sites of Zoroastrian significance around Gujarat, Iran and Azerbaijan. Katki has since developed a practice that examines how affective material is retained by the body, through familial archives and ancient knowledge systems. Along with his language-based and sculptural works, Katki’s embroidered textiles frame questions around the complex and queer shapes of migrant identities.

Recent projects include ‘Vazhghān I Vocabulary I ‘واژگان (Tim Melville Gallery, 2024),  ‘The Rhapsode’s Tools Will Build the Rhapsode’s House’ (Venice Art Biennial 2024), and ‘How to Puncture the Sky and Hear the Stones Sing’ (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2025).

Katki was the recipient of the 2024 Creative New Zealand Berlin Visual Arts Residency. In late 2026, he is resident in London as Gasworks Visual Artist from Aotearoa NZ, followed by an Akademie Schloss Solitude Visual Arts Fellowship in Germany until 2028.

Click here for Areez Katki’s website

Artist Portrait: Rich Burger