TAHREEM
Drawings
Installations
About
Mawra Tahreem is an interdisciplinary visual artist and researcher currently based in Providence, RI. She earned an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and also holds an MPHIL in Cultural Studies and a BFA in Textile Design. Through motion and visual narratives, Tahreem explores impermanence, liminality, suspension, and silencing. Her research-based art practice comprises experimental films, installations, and drawings that voice absence, time, and space.
She worked as a Research Assistant at the RISD Museum for two years on the South Asian Research Project, where she analyzed, documented, and cataloged textiles from South Asia. She serves as an Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Illustration. Moreover, she 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.
2018 Master of Philosophy, Cultural Studies, National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Pakistan
2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Textile Design, Institute of Art and Design, GCU, Faisalabad, Pakistan
2025 Fine Arts Dean Award Nominee, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2025 Graduate Commons Grant Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2025 Maharam Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2024 AICAD Postgraduate Teaching Fellowship Nominee, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2024 RISD Graduate Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2024 Graduate Commons Grant Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2023 RISD Graduate Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2018 Selected for International Heritage Conservation Course at Boston Architectural College, Boston, MA _ nominated by NCA
2015 WAPDA Scholarship Grant for excellence in academics, WAPDA Welfare Funds, Faisalabad, PK
2015 Awarded Gold Medal for excellence in academics, Institute of Art & Design, GCU, Faisalabad, PK
2025 RISD Grad Show, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
2025 In-Between [co-curator], Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2024 Illustration Graduate Summer Show, ISB Gallery, Providence, RI
2024 Arriving at the Exit, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
2019 Group Show, The Art League, Alexandria, VA
2017 In-Quest, Group Show, Full Circle Art Gallery, Karachi, PK
2016 PGD Final Group Show, Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, Lahore, PK
2016 Ibtidaa, Studio Seven Art Gallery, Karachi, PK
2016 All Pakistan Young Artists Exhibition, Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore, PK
2014 BFA Thesis Show, Institute of Art and Design, GCU, Faisalabad, Pakistan