Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman is a Black Lesbian American Multidisciplinary feminist and self-taught artist. Her art practice consists of creative writing, spoken word poetry performance, narrative painting of BIPOC people, and community art projects. Her work draws inspiration from Persian Islamic geometric art, Indian classical art, surrealism, and magical realism. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ibtisam moved at age six to England, followed by the UAE. Her mother made the decision shortly after 9/11 to escape the violence that Muslims and BIPOC are still facing today. By thirteen, she would live between the UAE and India over the next nine years. Ibtisam’s work has been exhibited nationally with New York Health and Hospitals Arts and Medicine Program in collaboration with Residency Unlimited, funded by the Laurie M Tisch Illumination Fund. She has also exhibited in group and duo exhibitions, and is currently completing a VoM (Voices of Multiplicity) residency through Residency Unlimited. Coming from a theater background, she’s performed her poetry for Ruckus, in NY. Internationally, Ibtisam has performed in theater productions in the UAE, and her work has featured in The Gender Bender Exhibition by The Sandbox Collective and the Goethe Institut, in Bangalore, India. Where she debuted her first narrative portrait, Al Awra The Intimate Parts.

She moved back to the states after receiving her Bachelor’s of Arts, with a triple major in Sociology, Economics and History, From Bangalore University in India. She now lives in NY, where she works as a full time artist, art educator, writer, poet, and linguistic interpreter. Ibtisam Zaman is beginning a new body of work in her studio on Governor’s island this May.

The pieces in my body of work act as case studies of systemic oppression’s effects on communities; patriarchy, caste/class systems, capitalism, racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, and white supremacy. My Narrative Portraitures analyze biography, migration and societal restrictions. This work is created with woven constructed tapestry oil paintings. I begin each piece with a portrait on canvas, the heart of the painting. On separate pieces of canvas I paint objects, maps, and botanical gardens that symbolize experiences and history of the subject/s. The symbolic images are then sewn to the core (the portrait), as a border; to give shape, insight, or a glimpse of what lies behind the surface of a face.

This work is my determination for truth, empowerment, and liberation. As a Black, lesbian, multilingual, and intersectional feminist in an art world designed by and for white, heteronormative-masculinity, I own the tools to create this political work. This is my purpose as an artist.