Dr Virginia Whiles is an art historian, critic, and curator. She completed her Doctorate in Social Anthropology at S.O.A.S. (2007), and the title of her thesis was “Miniature Manoeuvres: Tradition and Subversion in Contemporary Pakistani Art”. In 2010, her book, Art and Polemic in Pakistan: Cultural Politics and Tradition in Contemporary Miniature Painting, was published by I.B. Tauris, London. Virginia is an Associate Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design, UAL, and a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Beacon House National University (B.N.U.) and the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, Pakistan. Formerly Professor de Culture Generale at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Rouen France (1980-1999 and 2001-2005), she has curated 5 exhibitions of Pakistani miniature painting, in India, France, Switzerland, and Japan (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum). She is a regular contributor to the publications Art Monthly, Art Forum, and Art in America.