What has been your proudest art moment so far?

It has to be getting an offer from Stay Home Gallery representation. When I started out my work in 2021 on motherhood, I thought gallery representation was easily a few years away. I am filled with gratitude.

What do you hope 2022 will bring?

I hope 2022 brings to life the larger pieces I have been dreaming of.

Who is your biggest art crush? 

Lenka Clayton! A fellow artist mother. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be mentored by her.

What is your favorite thing to listen to while in the studio?

Podcasts. My few favorites are: A Life Without School, This American Life, Tales and The Great Women Artists.

Tell us more about you!

I am incredibly passionate about childhood development and alternate education paths for children. Outside of my studio I am focused on mothering, which I am learning is not a passive inherent skill, but one I need to actively work on building and refining every day.

I live in Tucson Arizona. I love it because it gives me the space and time to have a thriving art practice. The mountains and skies, the birds, the silence lets me live at a slow pace with an abundance of inspiration all around.

Fatema Abizar

Fatema Abizar (she/her) was born in Mumbai in 1995 and is currently pursuing her second Undergraduate degree at University of Arizona- School of Fine Art. Fatema draws from the rich visuals of early motherhood, working across mediums of gouache, acrylic, printmaking and machine embroidery. Through it she attempts to capture the space between artist and mother, lived moments and memories. She lives and works in Tucson, Arizona with her husband and daughter.

“‘A trip to hell a trip to heaven and the death of the self for a new self.’ These words by the artist Susan Miller are the most poignant I read on motherhood in my early postpartum days. Surely, there was joy at the arrival of this new being, but an inexplicable fear that sank in just as deep as the euphoria. If you asked me I could not sum up this fear. I suddenly felt afraid of everything. Though I had performed the feat of labor and birth, I felt unqualified for the role of a mother. Fragments of my pre-birth self still exist, but it was healing to begin thinking of the baby's birth as my own rebirth. Instead of desperately trying to reclaim my old self, or contend with how she would exist alongside this newfound mother identity, I mourned her passing, and began looking to this new self with curiosity and excitement.

‘Amma/Mama 1440’ is an ongoing body of work where I hope to account for every minute of a twenty-four hour period in the forms of painting, monoprinting and machine drawing. In these pieces I explore the differences in the culture I was brought up in, versus the narratives around childbirth, childrearing and motherhood in the West. The pieces are also an attempt to be present. I found the antidote to fear in mindfulness. In the more challenging moments, I am able to pause through the simple act of taking note of the exact time. It brings peace to know that time flows.”