Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz, "The Eyes of Azrael"
2023
Woodblock print on handmade Mitsumata paper with hand stenciling
ARTIST STATEMENT
Incorporating experimental approaches to drawing, painting, printmaking, collage and textiles, my practice aims to re-center forms of embodied knowledge that bear witness to the multivalence of identity, culture, heritage and belonging. My visual language is informed by uniquely Muslim perspectives on the sacred science of geometry, pattern-based abstraction, religious iconography, folk art, patchwork and the accrual of unique multiples. I consciously reject the damaging socio-political signifiers that have been superimposed on Muslim artists by non-Muslim patrons. My work instead pays homage to manifestations of the global Muslim religious imagination—especially prayer carpets, religious architecture and talismanic geometry—as well as traditional American quilts, handloom weaving and other forms of devotional Americana that resonate with my rural upbringing. By making my engagement with craft explicitly devotional, I claim space for religious expression in a socio-cultural landscape that is not always hospitable to it. Simultaneously, as a mother and caregiver raising an intercultural family in rural Massachusetts, I am seeking to build a visual language that is expansive and nuanced enough to represent our unique perspective and way of life.
ARTIST BIO
Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz is an artist, educator and caregiver working at the intersections of abstraction, contemplative practice and craft. Mumtaz attended Yale as a first-generation college student and completed her MFA at Columbia, where she was a recipient of a LeRoy Neiman Printmaking Fellowship. In 2023 she was awarded a Teaching Artist Cohort Grant from the Center for Craft. Her creative projects and research have also been supported by grants and fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Mass Cultural Council, Assets for Artists, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Kittredge Fund, the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program, the Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, Dieu Donné and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally and has been included in solo and group presentations at museums and galleries including the Seattle Art Museum, the University of Buffalo Art Galleries, Hancock Shaker Village, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, KMAC Louisville, Bellwether, Tracy Williams LTD and Jhaveri Contemporary. She lives and works in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her family.
2023
Woodblock print on handmade Mitsumata paper with hand stenciling
ARTIST STATEMENT
Incorporating experimental approaches to drawing, painting, printmaking, collage and textiles, my practice aims to re-center forms of embodied knowledge that bear witness to the multivalence of identity, culture, heritage and belonging. My visual language is informed by uniquely Muslim perspectives on the sacred science of geometry, pattern-based abstraction, religious iconography, folk art, patchwork and the accrual of unique multiples. I consciously reject the damaging socio-political signifiers that have been superimposed on Muslim artists by non-Muslim patrons. My work instead pays homage to manifestations of the global Muslim religious imagination—especially prayer carpets, religious architecture and talismanic geometry—as well as traditional American quilts, handloom weaving and other forms of devotional Americana that resonate with my rural upbringing. By making my engagement with craft explicitly devotional, I claim space for religious expression in a socio-cultural landscape that is not always hospitable to it. Simultaneously, as a mother and caregiver raising an intercultural family in rural Massachusetts, I am seeking to build a visual language that is expansive and nuanced enough to represent our unique perspective and way of life.
ARTIST BIO
Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz is an artist, educator and caregiver working at the intersections of abstraction, contemplative practice and craft. Mumtaz attended Yale as a first-generation college student and completed her MFA at Columbia, where she was a recipient of a LeRoy Neiman Printmaking Fellowship. In 2023 she was awarded a Teaching Artist Cohort Grant from the Center for Craft. Her creative projects and research have also been supported by grants and fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Mass Cultural Council, Assets for Artists, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Kittredge Fund, the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program, the Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, Dieu Donné and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally and has been included in solo and group presentations at museums and galleries including the Seattle Art Museum, the University of Buffalo Art Galleries, Hancock Shaker Village, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, KMAC Louisville, Bellwether, Tracy Williams LTD and Jhaveri Contemporary. She lives and works in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her family.
2023
Woodblock print on handmade Mitsumata paper with hand stenciling
ARTIST STATEMENT
Incorporating experimental approaches to drawing, painting, printmaking, collage and textiles, my practice aims to re-center forms of embodied knowledge that bear witness to the multivalence of identity, culture, heritage and belonging. My visual language is informed by uniquely Muslim perspectives on the sacred science of geometry, pattern-based abstraction, religious iconography, folk art, patchwork and the accrual of unique multiples. I consciously reject the damaging socio-political signifiers that have been superimposed on Muslim artists by non-Muslim patrons. My work instead pays homage to manifestations of the global Muslim religious imagination—especially prayer carpets, religious architecture and talismanic geometry—as well as traditional American quilts, handloom weaving and other forms of devotional Americana that resonate with my rural upbringing. By making my engagement with craft explicitly devotional, I claim space for religious expression in a socio-cultural landscape that is not always hospitable to it. Simultaneously, as a mother and caregiver raising an intercultural family in rural Massachusetts, I am seeking to build a visual language that is expansive and nuanced enough to represent our unique perspective and way of life.
ARTIST BIO
Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz is an artist, educator and caregiver working at the intersections of abstraction, contemplative practice and craft. Mumtaz attended Yale as a first-generation college student and completed her MFA at Columbia, where she was a recipient of a LeRoy Neiman Printmaking Fellowship. In 2023 she was awarded a Teaching Artist Cohort Grant from the Center for Craft. Her creative projects and research have also been supported by grants and fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Mass Cultural Council, Assets for Artists, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Kittredge Fund, the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program, the Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, Dieu Donné and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally and has been included in solo and group presentations at museums and galleries including the Seattle Art Museum, the University of Buffalo Art Galleries, Hancock Shaker Village, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, KMAC Louisville, Bellwether, Tracy Williams LTD and Jhaveri Contemporary. She lives and works in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her family.