Aisha Zia Khan
Executive Director & President

Aisha Zia Khan is Co-founder of Twelve Gates Arts, where as the Executive Director since 2009 she provides a platform for artists and diasporic audiences to present and experience contemporary art projects. Aisha has dedicated her career to curating innovative programs and exhibitions that bridge cultures, foster dialogue, and promote artistic diversity. She brings six years of experience as a Strategic and Financial Analyst at Merrill Lynch to her work. With this expertise, she works towards the founding vision for 12G: a space as expansive and malleable as the artists it accommodates.

Aisha's recently concluded Curatorial Residency in Penn's Asian American Studies Program (ASAM) in spring 2023 (as part of the ASAM's Sachs 2022 Grant)  titled “The Third Space: Unfurling Diasporic Arts of South Asia”, consisted of a series of programs seeking to highlight Diasporic Arts of South Asia as a distinct, expansive, and emergent tradition within American contemporary art. This residency was not just a critical opportunity for ASAM to premier South Asian American arts in an examination of diaspora, ethnic identity, and immigration history, but also a culmination of her own work highlighting these aspects in artistic productions of diasporic artists