Khadija has been Professor of Global Art History at the University of Birmingham since 2016. Prior to this she held a British Academy Newton International Fellowship at Cambridge University, based within the History of Science and Philosophy department and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. During this time she curated The Lost World (Part 2) by artist Julie Gough and undertook a number of artistic interventions in the Museum, such as Partial Proclamations (the Museum's permanent Tasmania display). Since 2015, she has also contributed to the ERC-funded project, ‘Subjectivity, Identity and Penal Power’, based within the Law Faculty at Oxford University. This project developed an Immigration Detention Archive, and subsequently led to a related solo exhibition of Khadija’s work at Stryx Gallery, Birmingham, in 2018. Khadija is also currently working on a forthcoming book with Sternberg Press that documents her work on the Immigration Detention Archive.
Khadija has curated several other international exhibitions including Botanical Drift, Kranich Museum, and The Vienna Zocolo, whilst her installations and texts have been exhibited in venues such as the Venice Biennale; Institute of Contemporary Art London; and Marrakech Biennale. Her first book, Art in the Time of Colony, inspired related exhibitions including: Ore Black Ore in the Allegory of the Cave Painting at Extracity Kunsthal Antwerp; Investigated & Dissident Domesticity at Savvy Contemporary Gallery Berlin; Artists in Residence at the Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford; and Embassy Embassy at Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin.
Khadija grew up between Austria and Australia and studied Fine Art at the Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Vienna and Liberal Arts at La Trobe, following which she wrote her MA and PhD in the department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard. Following the completion of her PhD, Khadija undertook two post-doctoral positions in Berlin (DAAD and AvH).