FAWZIA KHAN
Fawzia Khan is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Hopkins, Minnesota. Born in Lagos, Nigeria to Pakistani parents, she emigrated to the United States at age 12. Khan’s identity and lived experience inform the themes she focuses on, particularly religion, humanism, feminism and motherhood. Her work is best described as social commentary calling out inconsistencies in human interactions, traditions, and belief systems in a search to encourage compassion, empathy, and acceptance with both logic and aesthetic seduction.
Khan is an active member of two national multiethnic artist collectives, the Habibtis and the Paglees, and the Interfaith Artists Circle in the Twin Cities. She is the recipient of Minnesota State Arts Board grants (2020 and 2024), was a McKnight Fiber Artist Fellowship finalist (2022 and 2025), and a 2026 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship finalist.
Khan holds a BA/MD from the University of Missouri (1987) and a BFA from the University of Minnesota (2005).
Endemic
These works are about school shootings, gun violence and the loss of civility in society.
Transformed
Radiance, along with Immortality, Peace, The Broken Truth, Sacrifice, Gratitude, Open Mindedness and Free Will form a series of prayer rugs. These rugs translate the spoken word into a woven object. The distinctive visual patterns trace the audio recordings of the artist’s voice reading selected maxims encouraging tolerance. Each rug is equipped with a headset for the viewer to listen to the brief recordings.
To see the relevant maxims and hear the artist’s voice, please visit her website.
Fragile State
This body of work was created in late 2025 just before the ICE surge took place in Minnesota. It reflects on the distortion of facts by government entities, the erasure of the contributions of certain groups of people on websites and government documents and the growing polarization of the populace.