tazeen qayyum

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. Her work addresses complex issues of belonging, identity, and displacement within a socio-political context, emphasizing empathy and compassion as a counterforce to aggression and conflict while acknowledging the evolving realities of our time. 

Qayyum's artwork has been exhibited globally at prestigious galleries, museums, international art biennials and festivals, including the Karachi Biennial 2017, the Bangkok Art Biennial 2022, the Edinburgh International Festival 2025 and the Asia+ International Festivals, Hong Kong 2026. In 2013, she was commissioned to create site-responsive work at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. Her works are part of esteemed collections such as the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; the Art Mill Museum in Qatar; the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa; the TD Canada Trust Permanent Collection in Toronto; the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto; the Welt Museum in Vienna; the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto; the National Gallery of Amman in Jordan; and the National Art Gallery in Nepal.

Qayyum’s works have been featured in critical reviews in several publications, including in BlackFlash Magazine (2021) Canadian Art (2018), The Globe and Mail, Canada (2011 & 2015), and The New York Times (2009). She was the recipient of the Excellence in Art Award 2015 by the CCAI (Canadian Community Arts Initiative) and was the finalist for the MAX Artist of the Year, Muslims Achieving Excellence(2026). She was also nominated for the the Jameel Prize (2013) and K.M. Hunter Award (2014).

Qayyum received her BFA in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan. Along with her artistic practice, Qayyum co-founded Art Address, an interactive space dedicated to fostering artistic discourse, community building, and mentoring young, emerging, and newcomer artists in Canada. She has served on the Board of Directors for Oakville Galleries and on the Advisory Board of the Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto, as well as the Arts Council at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.

For more information visit: www.tazeenqayyum.com
@tazeenqayyum