Zinnia Naqvi

Born in 1991 in Pickering, ON (Canada)
Lives and works between Toronto and Montreal (Canada)

Ziinia Naqvi received a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Photography from Ryerson University, Toronto and is currently a Master’s in Fine Arts Candidate from Concordia University, Montreal. Her work has been shown in Toronto at the Ryerson Image Centre, Gallery 44, the Koffler Gallery and in Montreal at Articule and the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery. Her work has been shown internationally at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Uppsala International Short Film Festival and the International Institute of Contemporary Art and Theory in Mangalia, Romania. Naqvi’s work uses a combination of photography, video, archival footage and installation. Her past work has dealt with issues of post-colonialism, trans-culturalism, language and gender politics. Using archival objects allows viewers to step back and think critically about issues that affect diasporic communities over time and place.

Dear Nani is a project that addresses issues of gender performance and colonial mimicry through the family archive. The photographs included in this project are of the artist’s maternal grandmother, Rhubab Tapal. Nani is performing the act of cross-dressing by wearing several different outfits that belong to her husband. The photographs were taken on the newly-weds’ honeymoon in Quetta and Karachi, Pakistan, in 1948. The artist’s grandfather, Gulam Abbas Tapal, is the photographer and presumed director of the photo session.