Tazeen Qayyum

Tazeen Qayyum is a Pakistani-born Canadian conceptual artist working in a variety of media including miniature painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, and video. Her work explores issues of identity, immigration, socio-political conflict, and her Muslim identity.

Biography Born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1973, Tazeen Qayyum studied miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, graduating in 1996 with a BFA. as well as fear and misunderstanding of other cultures.

Qayyum's more recent circular text pieces are performative based and originate from her work with installations of the repeated forms of cockroaches. Recurring singular phrases written in the Urdu (the artist's mother tongue) are drawn from the centre of the paper or canvas, concentrically moving out. These performances have been as long as twenty-four hours in duration. These drawing performances often result in joint pain.

Along with her artistic practice, Qayyum has offered workshops in miniature painting. Tazeen Qayyum: Descent at Canvas Gallery, Karachi (2018),

Group exhibitions Qayyum's work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions. These include: Elusive Realities: recent works by Tazeen Qayyum and Sumaira Tazeen, Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan (2008) Art in Review: Farida Batool, Adeela Suleman and Tazeen Qayyum, Aicon Gallery (2009), Veiled: Andrew McPhail, Grace Ndiritu, Tazeen Qayyum, Textile Museum, Toronto (2012), and Beyond Measure: Domesticating Distance, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 2015 among others.

Performances Qayyum's drawing based performances include Unvoiced held at the 1st Karachi Biennale, Pakistan in 2017, and 'We do not know who we are where we go’, which was part of the Mixer Project at The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto (2016). She has also directed performance work including Double Date in 2007 produced by SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Collective) at Lennox Contemporary Gallery, Toronto and AKA Gallery, Saskatoon, and A Feast in Exile held in 2009 and produced by VASL Artist's Collective.

Personal life Qayyum is married to digital media artist Faisal Anwar and lives in Oakville, Ontario.