Iram Sadaf Padder

Sadaf Padder is a Brooklyn-based independent curator, writer and community organizer focused on excavating under-recognized contemporary art movements and histories related to the Global South. She has curated across the country, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to Martha’s Vineyard, focusing on themes of social justice, futurism, radical liberation movements, caste abolition, climate change and neo-mythology to weave connections between various communities.

Padder is uniquely informed by her background as a public school educator and administrator of eight years. She maintains a dedicated community-based practice where she develops youth arts programs and internships. Her curations have earned mentions in LA Weekly, Hyperallergic and Art News and resulted in acquisitions of BIPOC women artists by the Baltimore Museum of Art, Northwestern University and the Nion McEvoy Foundation.

Padder has contributed writing to Visual Aids, ARTSY, Up Mag and Hyperallergic. She also serves as a board member for the Chickweed Alliance and ArtBridge; is lead fundraiser for Grown in Haiti, where she is building a community center and artist retreat in Jacmel, Haiti; and is a member of Phoenix Community Garden, where she runs community events and youth programs. She is a Create Change alumna with the Laundromat Project as well as a 2022–23 Emily J. Hall Tremaine Fellow via Hyperallergic.