Zuha Ahsan

[she/her]

BFA Visual Studies, minor in Communication and Media Studies

As an artist, Zuha explores how culture shapes identity through their work. Raised in Western society while belonging to a South Asian family, their understanding of cultural values, traditions, and practices developed through the lens of a Western upbringing. This dual perspective shaped how they interpret and relate to their heritage.

Through their artwork, the artist examines both admiration and frustration connected to this experience. Their work reflects the tension between inherited cultural traditions and the realities of growing up in a different cultural environment.

By creating from this perspective, the artist explores what it means to understand South Asian culture while navigating life within Western society. Their work becomes a space to question, reinterpret, and express how cultural identity forms when it is experienced across two different worlds.

What She Taught Me, 2025, Acrylic on wood cradle, 42" x 32"

We used to watch our mothers get ready, then our mothers helped us get ready. With time, we learn to do it side by side. We grow up studying every gesture, every tradition, until we notice that we’ve inherited the same skills we once admired. Within immigrant families, the distance in culture between generations can widen, yet small acts like styling hair, applying henna, cooking familiar foods continue to pass quietly from mother to daughter.