Mawra Tahreem is an interdisciplinary visual artist and researcher from the Washington metropolitan area currently based in Providence, where she is pursuing an MFA in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She holds an MPHIL in Cultural Studies, a PGD in Visual Arts, and a BFA in Textile Design. Her research-based artistic practice is informed by her personal experiences. Through her motion and visual narratives, she explores impermanence, liminality, suspension, and climate change. Her experimental frame-by-frame animations, installations, and drawings voice absence, time and space. Since September 2023, she has been working as a Research Assistant at the RISD Museum for the South Asian Research Project, where she analyzes, documents, and catalogs textiles from South Asia. She also serves as an Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Illustration. Moreover, she recently taught a self-designed studio course, “Material Culture and Narratives,” at RISD and encouraged students to unravel the stories of everyday objects through hands-on experience. Tahreem has participated in various community-engaged projects, including visual ethnography in the field after receiving the RISD Graduate Commons Grant and a collaborative effort with the World Monuments Fund to preserve living heritage in Pakistan. She is a recipient of Maharam Fellowship 2025 and RISD Graduate Commons Grant 2024. Please feel free to send her an email if you'd like to learn more about my work.
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mtahreem@risd.edu
mawra.tahreem