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, at age six Ibtisam moved 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 residency on Governors Island in Residency Unlimited and KODA house. Coming from a theater background, she’s performed her poetry for Ruckus, in NY. Internationally, Ibtisam has starred and 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 has an upcoming duo show at ACE Hotel Gallery titled ‘Our Mothers’ Garden’ this October in Brooklyn, showcasing some of her new work.
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Ibtisam Zaman 