Qinza Najm: Weaving Space
Solo Exhibition
Curated by Kimberly Salib
Art Gotham | 4 Saint Marks Place | East Village, NY | 10003
April 10 – April 22, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 10 | 6–9 PM
Closing Reception + Artist Talk: Tuesday, April 22 | 6–9 PM
RSVP: info@artgotham.com
View Artwork: www.artgotham.com
Art Gotham is pleased to present Weaving Space, a solo exhibition by Pakistani-American interdisciplinary artist Qinza Najm, whose expansive practice bridges painting, performance, and installation with a profound psychological and material inquiry into identity, migration, and transformation.
In this new body of work, Najm introduces richly layered mixed media paintings on canvas, reclaimed Persian carpets, and wood panels, interspersed with geometric gem-like forms that evoke both preciousness and fracture. Using found textiles, oil, acrylic, and cut collage, Najm weaves together disparate materials and visual languages—gesture and geometry, tradition and disruption—to create a visceral vocabulary of memory, displacement, and resilience.
Weaving Space unfolds as a meditation on presence and absence, on what is held and what is erased. The gem forms—rendered with a tension between perfection and impermanence—act as metaphorical vessels for containment, weight, and value, often floating above chaotic or decayed surfaces. By juxtaposing opulent, sharp-edged shapes with the organic unpredictability of poured paint and cut textiles, Najm invites the viewer to consider the invisible architecture of emotional and cultural histories—those we inherit, bury, or reclaim.
This exhibition continues Najm’s long-standing exploration of how the body, environment, and inherited cultural memory intersect—particularly through the lens of female and immigrant identity. Her practice often incorporates salvaged materials, such as used carpets and packaging foam, as both subject and medium, pushing against the boundaries of traditional abstraction while rooted in narrative urgency.
As a Pakistani-born, New York–based artist with a Ph.D. in Psychology, Najm’s practice is deeply informed by emotional intelligence and research-driven storytelling. Her work has been shown at the Queens Museum, Christie's, Art|Basel, and most recently the Bronx Museum. Featured in publications such as ArtNet, Hyperallergic, and The Huffington Post, Najm is known for creating thought-provoking, immersive work that bridges aesthetics with activism.
