PRE-MADE BOOK COVER STAND
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NAHAL کأ STUDIO







Hi, I’m Nahal Sheikh. Welcome to my creative practice, NAHAL کأ STUDIO (nahal’s studio). A small space for mindful collaborations that value visual design to narrate stories. On this page, you’ll see my portfolio full of editorial illustrations, book covers, posters, music album cover art and more. Soon, I’m launching my Pre-Made Book Cover Stand – a carefully crafted curation of book covers I’ve made with love, ready for fiction and non-fiction books.

A bit about my background – I’m a graphic designer and researcher with Pakistani roots, based in Amsterdam. Curious about connecting historical and contemporary aesthetics, my work constantly merges cross-cultural design languages. I’m currently obsessed with Bauhaus minimalism and Urdu typography. 

I’m  also a Lecturer in Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. I teach themes of racialised and gendered identity in media representation from a post- and de-colonial perspective. My research focuses on South Asian, particularly Pakistani, graphic design and visual culture, looking at design as inherently intertwined with history and politics.

nahalrsheikh@gmail.com
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Academic Publications

“Pakistan’s Ambiguous Islamic Identity,” JSTOR Daily, 2024.

“The Sociogeny of Religious Discrimination in India’s Surveillance State,”  
Soapbox Journal of Cultural Analysis, 2022.

“Reminiscences of Morals: A socio-psychological analysis of bystander unconsciousness in Waltz with Bashir,” Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts, 2017.




Magazine Articles [selected]“Productively ‘perverse’: Punjabi films of the 1970s-80s as a tool for resistance during Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship,” Himal Southasian Magazine, 2022.

“Recognize your history: Re-narrating the ‘glorified’ Indian Partition 1947,”  jfa human rights journal, 2021.

“Midnight Doorways: Usman T. Malik on Pakistani folklore, fables and horror tales,” 
Youlin Magazine, 2021.

“Archiving Fashion: In conversation with the author and photographer of ‘Pakistan: A Fashionable History’,”  
Youlin Magazine, 2020.

“Pakistani popular music: towards an apolitical and original culture,”
The Nation, 2019.





Awards“Harmonia,” Winning entry, Let’s Brief brand design competition, 2025.




Exhibitions“The Compass of Racial Anti-Hate,” The Push Exhibition, 2021.

“Let’s go digital, let’s get active!” Express Impress Virtual Exhibition, 2021.







Last Updated 24.10.31
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