Maryam Shehzad is an artist and designer whose work explores the quiet, often overlooked emotions that unfold behind screens. Her paintings are more than images, they are fragments of her life, small antidotes to the loneliness and love experienced while living between worlds. Each piece offers a glimpse into everyday moments shaped by distance and connection.
Broken and Sliced
Oil on canvas paper, 16.54" x 11.69", 2025
A study of light and shadows, here and there, sliced oranges on a broken chopping board. Broken and sliced is how immigrants feel when they are away from home.
Self Portrait
Acrylic on canvas paper, 16.54" x 11.69", 2025
This self-portrait captures a position familiar to many, in front of a screen, FaceTiming or messaging. I painted myself in a moment of quiet connection, simultaneously here and elsewhere.
Novel
Oil on canvas, 9" x 12", 2025
My brother working on his novel. I have read many drafts of his novel, and he refers to me as his “first reader.” Whenever we ask him on a family FaceTime call, what his weekend plans are, he replies with a sigh, “Bus… reading, writing.” My parents often tease him, “Kab arahi hai tumhari novel?” They often ask me how it is and what it is about. When he sat for me for this painting, he asked if it was okay if he could work on his novel while I painted. When the painting was complete, I showed it to my parents on FaceTime and asked them what I should call it. My dad quickly said,
“Novel!”
New Yorker
Oil on canvas, 9" x 12", 2025
We often jokingly refer to my brother as “The New Yorker" because of how frequently he begins his stories with, “I was reading in The New Yorker...” which immediately makes us roll our eyes. I enjoyed painting this portrait of him as I felt it fittingly captured the way my family sees him each time he cites his favorite source.

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