About the Artist

Tazeen Qayyum (she/her) is a Pakistani-Canadian, multidisciplinary artist based in Oakville. Trained as a miniature painter of South Asian and Persian traditions, Qayyum continues to explore new materials and processes through drawing, installation, sculpture, video and performance. Drawing from complex issues of belonging and displacement within a socio-political context, her art is a way for her to navigate identity and beliefs while living in the diaspora. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Bangkok Biennale, Thailand; Karachi Biennale, Pakistan; the South Asia Institute, Chicago, USA; the National Gallery of Pakistan; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Japan; Museo Diocesano, Milan, Italy; the Textile Museum, Toronto; the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; and the Art Gallery of Windsor; among others.

Along with her artistic practice, Qayyum teaches workshops in traditional miniature painting. She co-founded Art Address in 2018, an interactive space for artistic discourse in Oakville. She currently serves as a member of the Arts Council, Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, and has previously served on the Board of Directors, Oakville Galleries and the Advisory Board, Blackwood Gallery.

Select Exhibitions:

2025 ‘ابھی here/now’, curated by Ruba Kanaan, Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2024 ‘ ‘Isma’u wa’u’ (listen and learn), durational drawing performance, in collaboration with Aga Khan Master Musicians at the National Museum of Qatar, Doha.

2023 ‘Being and Belonging: Contemporary Women Artists of the Islamic World and Beyond’, curated by Fahmida Suleman at the Royal Ontario Museum Canada

2023 ‘In Parts’, Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2022 ‘Chaos: Calm’, Bangkok Art Biennale 2022, Museum Siam, Thailand

2021 ‘Contemporary Chronicles’ South Asia Institute, Chicago, USA.

2017 ‘Witness’ 1st Karachi Biennale, Jamshed Memorial Hall, Karachi Pakistan

2016 We do not know who we are where we go, drawing performance, for Christof Migone’s Mixer Project’ at The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto

2013 A Holding Pattern, solo project, co-curated by Lee Petrie and Stuart Keeler at the Toronto International Pearson Airport, Canada

2011 Veiled, curated by Sarah Quinton, Textile Museum of Canada

2010 The Rising Tide: New Directions in Art from Pakistan 1990 -2010 , curated by Naiza Khan, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi, Pakistan

2010 Its a Disaster, curated by Anthea Foyer, CodeLive Metro, Winter Olympics, Vancouver, Canada

Select Public Collections:

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

Art Mill Museum, Doha, Qatar

TD Bank Group Contemporary Art Collection, Canada

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pengzhou, China

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Canada

Welt Museum, Vienna

Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto, Canada

National Gallery of Amman, Jordon

National Art Gallery, Nepal

Federal Chancellery, Vienna, Austria