Aalto University awards Abdullah Qureshi’s doctoral thesis with a Certificate of Honour in the Annual Review ceremony on March 11th, 2026. The award recognizes “the most meritorious doctoral thesis” based on “academic quality, impact and originality.”

“Abdullah Qureshi’s doctoral thesis, Mythological Migrations: Imagining Queer Muslim Utopias—Artistic and Curatorial Strategies of Collaboration, Collective Resistance, and Coalition-Building is a groundbreaking dissertation that reimagines the intellectual, artistic, and political possibilities of queer Muslim life in migratory contexts. The project disrupts western-centric narratives that position Islam and queer identities as fundamentally incompatible through rigorous engagement with feminist and queer intersectional scholarship.

The dissertation includes two artistic components that engage with the Islamophobia, racism, and exclusion faced by Arab and African LGBTIQA+ refugees. By integrating artistic practice, curatorial strategy, and critical theory, the work reimagines futures for collaborative, coalition-based forms of resistance and utopian world-making, making a vital and transformative contribution to contemporary art discourse and queer Muslim studies.”

Abdullah Qureshi’s doctoral thesis was defended on December 4th, 2025 and a pass with distinction. Additionally, his thesis was selected for Art Theses (formerly Aalto Arts Books) and is published by Aalto University. It can be purchased from the Aalto University shop.

Recent Curated Exhibition: Tidal Paths, an[other] space, Lahore, February 5th - March 4th, 2026. The group exhibition explores Decolonial feminist strategies of remembering, refusal, and repair, and features the works of Mehwish Abid Abaidullah, Farida Batool, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nada El-Omari, Naiza Khan, Sepideh Rahaa, Elham Rahmati, and Masooma Syed.