Moizza S. Elahi

Overview

I am an art historian and an archaeologist specializing in the visual and material cultures of South Asia, with a particular focus on Gandhara, a flourishing artistic and cultural center that emerged along the northwestern frontiers and trade routes of the Indian Subcontinent in the early centuries CE. My research broadly encompasses issues of materiality; gender and representation; embodiment and practice; narrative and placemaking; archaeo-art history; and transculturality in the arts of antiquity. My current book project, based on my dissertation titled Rethinking Representation: Art, Materiality, and Gender in Gandhara, examines an extensive body of systematically excavated sculpture from Buddhist monasteries in Swat Valley and traces its operations within local, socio-material, and ritual settings. Adopting a comparative approach, my second project explores the interplay between artistic patronage, regional politics, and religious practice in early Gandharan art in relation to developments in early Christian visual and material traditions.

I received an MA in Art History in 2019 and a PhD in Art History in 2026 from the University of Toronto. I am a graduate of the Mediterranean Archaeology Collaborative Specialization program (MACS) at UofT and a member of ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan. My research has been supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) in 2021-2024 and the Robert H. N. Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies at UofT in 2024. I have taught courses on Greek and Roman art and archaeology and the visual and material cultures of South Asia.