Shahzia Sikander's animated video The Last Post is now on view at SAAM.
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A collage with an illustration of a man with a red waist coat in the center with a link to the exhibition page.
Shahzia Sikander’s Multimedia Exploration

Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post
On view through July 12, 2026

Smithsonian American Art Museum
8th and G Streets NW

Through precisely inked and animated scenes, Shahzia Sikander’s video artwork The Last Post (2010) critically considers the legacy of the British East India Company in Asia, using her signature approach of infusing Indo-Persian miniature paintings with a contemporary perspective. Indian court architecture, Chinese cut-paper silhouettes, and a watercolor map of South Asia all dissolve and reconfigure around the main figure, a faceless “Company man,” as electronic beats by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun explode on the soundtrack.

The Last Post is presented in a dedicated video art gallery on SAAM’s third floor. This ten-minute film runs continuously and can be entered at any time. Read more about the artist.
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Exhibition credit: This exhibition received funding from the HomeSpun Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. 

Image credit: Shahzia Sikander, The Last Post, 2010, single-channel HD digital animation, color, 5.1 surround sound; 10:00 minutes. Music: Du Yun, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2025.11, ©2025, Shahzia Sikander. Courtesy the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
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