Praising Faiths

Sarah-Mecca Abourahman & Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman

Praising Faiths 

Opening Saturday, February 22, 2025 

Eye See Me is excited to announce its first Salon Soirée: Praising Faiths, a duo exhibition featuring Sarah-Mecca Abdourahman and Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman, curated by Melody Pineda. 

Praising Faiths fuses together two distinct artist voices to create a harmonious narrative of the spiritual world. This exhibition builds on each artist’s independent solo exhibitions— Zaman’s Iman, Al Safa Wal Marwa: Faith in the Pilgrimage at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art and Abdourahman Praises Unsung at the J.W. Stellick Gallery of the Ottawa School of Art.

Praising Faith celebrates moments often seen as soft, vulnerable, or envisioning a world that creates both haven- and refuge for the existence of these delicate spaces. Through textiles, painting and sculpture, these artists explore themes of womanhood and the role of the “eldest daughter as caretaker” both at home and in society. 

Sarah-Mecca Abdourahman challenges the traditional ideas of strength tied to the Afro-diasporic women’s identity, relinquishing this mantle for something more nuanced. As a first generation Canadian with roots in India, Somalia, and Djibouti – she finds intrinsic meaning in demonstrating the value of vulnerability through textiles. Through her work, she travels through themes of nostalgia, family dynamics, and the healing power of reconnection to youth and adolescence.

Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman compels the conversation beyond the home to examine the chaos of the outside world, building on the same themes. Using Afro-figurative surrealism, Zaman connects her Islamic cultural upbringing with ideas of faith, capitalism and colonialism, exploring the relationship between these seemingly disparate philosophies, With her triple major degree in sociology, economics, and history, Zaman works with Joy James’ theory of the “Captive Maternal”, personifying the struggles of those affected by violence, poverty, migration and genocide through dynamic, spiralized figures. These bodies represent the captive caretakers of our communities.

Abdourahman and Zaman offer a window into a rich world of cultural history and the impact of migration on identity. Their collective artworks bring together a fresh exploration of spirituality, collective care and reclamation of space while centering voices of marginalized communities and their most treasured inheritance of resistance. This exhibition, hosted by Milla G. Lozanova also features selected works from Eye See Me’s private collections.  

About the Artists

Sarah-Mecca Abdourahma graduated Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2020). Her work is part of several private collections, including the City of Ottawa Art Collection and the Art Volt Collection. She recently completed a three month residency with Residency Unlimited(RU) in Brooklyn, NY.

Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman is a New York-based African American Lesbian known for her interdisciplinary and conceptual work. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ibtisam moved with her family at the age of six to UAE, seeking refuge from the post-9/11 violence that impacted African diasporic Muslims, Muslims of the global majority, and all immigrants still endure today. She has an upcoming solo exhibition this August in Basel, Switzerland.