Zainab Saleem is a visual designer and illustrator from Lahore, Pakistan, where she spent her formative years. Her academic journey was marked by excellence, graduating with distinction with a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication Design from the National College of Arts. Zainab’s exceptional talent earned her a merit scholarship, distinguishing her as one of six individuals across the country chosen to represent her university for her work as a visual designer while raising her voice for important social causes. Zainab is now on the road to attaining an MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture from Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art at WashU.
Zainab honed her skills while working as a senior visualizer at one of Pakistan’s largest brands, and her works circulate nationwide as a representation of her artistic expression. Through this experience, she discovered Illustration to be her true creative forte. Her work revolves around the representation of women and raising a visual voice against repression, un-layering cultural identity, and reviving cultural narratives in a post-colonial world. One of her notable achievements was her experiential exhibition, Being (Beyond and Within), which highlights one’s connection with their inner deeper self.
Aside from her academic journey, she enjoys basketball, painting, and reading.