Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman 

The Brownsville Museum of Fine Art is pleased to announce Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman’s (b.1995) first solo exhibition, Iman, Al Safa WAl Marwa: Faith in the Pilgrimage, curated by Melody Pineda.

Throughout this exhibition we encounter multiple scenes that exude feelings of subtle terror through the characters that Zaman visualizes: The Captive Maternal, The Captive Shadows, and The Hunter. Each serving as reminders of the State, and state of the world. Rings surround the Captive Maternals while other forms unravel, signifying the inherent weaving of the environment we experience. Concentric circles portray the vulnerability of ongoing precarity held in the body. The work connects and illustrates Joy James’ concept of Captive Maternals, materializing her description for the spirals of oppression and the unavoidable conditional realities we are born into.

Inspired by her commute to work, and her Muslim upbringing, the Mecca of New York City grind culture is an integral connection to this series of works. Zaman's commute is inspired by the unravelings of her own reality, witnessing everyday connections as the source of life that continues the structures of the state.

The painting ‘There-is-a-train-to…..approaching-the-station(audio)’ captures a portal in the sky bordered by rope that transforms into an extension of the train track. A Shadow Captive escapes hostility between The Captive Maternal and the Hunter. Zaman's Shadow Captive climbs out of the canvas, mirroring tension that occurs between the Klan-esque officer approaching the Captive in prayer.

An extension of the lucid dream state and reality as illusion, ‘..Faith in the Pilgrimage’ world builds through paintings, sculptures, installations, poetry and song. This approach enlivens the intangible that exists in our world. 

Iman, Al Safa WAI Marwa: Faith in the Pilgrimage, is a series of paintings and sculptures that emphasize the Empire's control over the oppressed body, and the resistance that lies within humanity. It deconstructs western societies' doctrines of what we are to believe and follow. Zaman shows us the world the Captive Maternal endures while presenting the duality of the inherent human need, regardless of state, to experience tenderness, care, love, and resistance within chaos. 

Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman is a New York based Black Lesbian American, interdisciplinary, and conceptual artist. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ibtisam moved at six years old to the UAE. This forced migration was shortly after 9/11, to escape the violence that Black Muslims, Muslims of color, and all immigrants are still facing today.