Qinza became an artist to “fuck up the current status quo where some of the practices are happening as if we are still living in the 18th century.” She is an advocate of marginalized people (especially women) and an artist asking the difficult questions, urging her audience to do the same. For one of her recent anti-gun violence projects #NoHonorInKilling, the artist collected bullets from NYC shooting ranges and created a bullet headdress to question the practice of “honor killing” that affects thousands of women in South Asia and Pakistan each year, as well as the many school shootings that have plagued the U.S. Concept often plays a large role in shaping the medium of the work. Performance and painting are her signatures, while she dabbles in video and installation at times. Figures in her work are often stretched, deconstructed, distorted or pushed beyond their limits. Her paintings on Persian carpets and work with found objects are some of her most characteristic. “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 her upbringing in Lahore, Pakistan and migration to the U.S. in adulthood, her performance interrogates gender, politics and cultural power in relationship to geography and society. In this way, her work naturally combats cultural stereotypes, prejudice, Islamophobia, and racist and sexist norms. And despite these challenges, moving more deeply to the core of Qinza’s work we find a precious ode to the human capacity for transformation, generosity and acceptance. Qinza works out of her studio in Hells Kitchen which doubles as a space for artistic collaboration, community and dialogue called Prime Produce. Her body of work is growing and she’s ready for her first NYC solo exhibition. Meanwhile, she’s preparing for her solo in Pakistan, where her work is underexposed, and following that a solo show in Dubai. Creatively, she’s making new work traversing the territory of gender, sexuality and desire.
Follow her on Instagram @Qinza1