Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman

Child of The Fall: Neither Black Nor White

Oil, acrylic on canvas

About the artist

Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman

Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman is a Black Lesbian American conceptual multidisciplinary feminist and self-taught artist. Her art practice consists of creative writing, spoken word poetry performance, narrative painting of BIPOC people, soft sculptures, 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. From thirteen onwards, she lived between the UAE and India over the proceeding 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 recently completed a residency at Governors Island through Residency Unlimited at KODA house. Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman showcased new work for her duo show with Damali Abrams, "Our Mothers’ Garden," at Ace Hotel Brooklyn, NY. Coming from a theater background, she has performed her poetry for Ruckus and at Columbia University in New York. In addition, she has taken part in academic panel discussions concerning Blackness, femininity, and healing, and has been invited as a guest lecturer to Montclair University. She was awarded a grant through NYSCA in 2023, with APAC (African Peach Arts Coalition) as the fiscal sponsor.

Internationally, Ibtisam has performed in theater productions in the UAE, and her work has been featured in The Gender Bender Exhibition by The Sandbox Collective and the Goethe Institute 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 of arts, with a triple major in Sociology, Economics, and History from Bangalore University in India. She now lives in NYC, where she works as a full-time artist, art educator, writer, and poet. She has just featured in a group Exhibition at Latchkey Gallery and will be having a solo exhibition in NY in the fall titled “Stolen Women.”