Qinza Najm is one of three artists working at The Fountainhead Residency this month in Miami. I really wish many of you would get involved. You have no idea how much more exciting our lives are now that we get to meet and spend time with from people all over the world. Call me to learn more. It doesn’t matter where you live. I will partner with you.

This month we welcome Qinza Najm, a NYC-based Pakistani-American artist. Najm has exhibited at venues including the Queens Museum (Queens, NY), Christie’s Art (Dubai), Art Basel (Miami, FL), Karachi Biennale (Pakistan), Western Exhibitions Gallery (Chicago) Museum of the Moving Image (Queens, NY), and the National Museum of Beijing (China). Her work has been featured in ArtNet News, the Huffington Post, the NY Daily News, International Business Week, Buzzfeed, and Upworthy.

Najm pursued her fine arts studies at Bath University and The Art Students League of New York, where she studied under the mentorship of Larry Poons. She completed her Psychology PhD at Tennessee State University. Her upbringing in Lahore, Pakistan, adulthood in the United States, and intense training in Psychology inform her paintings, performance and installation work related to gender, politics, and (em)-powerment.

“I am interested in the body as both medium and subject—the circumstances surrounding its physical occupation of space, the norms and laws that govern bodies as political subjects, and the uneven burden these norms often place on women and minorities. Drawing from my upbringing in Lahore, Pakistan, and adulthood in the United States, my sculptures, installations, and performances address gender, politics, and cultural power.

“I often use motifs of bodies stretched, deconstructed, distorted, and pushed beyond their limits. A manipulated body is a reflection of how power is exerted on our being. However, I am more interested in the depiction of human potential—an extended body claims space beyond its expected role, both physically and figuratively. In particular, I aim to raise questions about how we might transcend and combat cultural stereotypes, prejudice, Islamophobia, and racist and sexist norms.”