In many of my works I take pleasure in addressing serious subjects with a layer of subtle humor. A cockroach motif, often seen in my paintings, crept into my work in 2002 as a metaphor to critique how in today’s war driven, intolerant environment the value of a human life has been reduced to that of an insect.

Tazeen Qayyum was born in 1973 in Pakistan. She is a contemporary miniature painter who received her BFA in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan (1996). Her work has been shown internationally in both solo and group exhibitions, some of which include Holding Pattern at the Toronto Pearson Airport (2013), The Veiled at the Textile Museum of Canada (2011), The Rising Tide, Mohatta Palace Museum, Pakistan (2010), Urban Myths & Modern Fables, University of Sydney, Australia and UTSC, Toronto (2007), A Thousand and One Days at the Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii and and Musee des Beaux, Rouen, France (2005),  JAALA Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Japan (2004) and  Homecoming, at the National Gallery of Pakistan (2007) .

She currently lives and works in Ontario , Canada.