Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed
Aunties with a Deadly Stare No. 8
Acrylic, liquid eyeliner, and collaged paper (from TSA notifications of baggage inspection) on canvas, 2020
Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed is a political strategist, storyteller, and artist based in Los Angeles. She creates at the intersection of counternarratives and culture shifting as a South Asian American, Muslim, second-gen woman. She’s turned out over 500,000 Asian American voters, recorded five years of the award-winning #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast, and makes #MuslimVDay cards annually. In spring 2019 she was UCLA’s activist-in-residence at the Institute on Inequality and Democracy, in Summer 2017 was artist-in-residence at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art Culture and Design, and in 2016 received an award from President Obama’s White House as a Champion of Change in Art and Storytelling. A protest sign she designed for the 2017 Women’s March sits in the permanent archives of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Art giclee prints of her cover image, “Aunties with a Deadly Stare No. 17,” are available at www.etsy.com/shop/TazzyStarShop.
• Photo by Wajiha Ibrahim