Bio
Malikah Tamirah (b. 2002; Savannah, Georgia) is a visual artist who seeks to capture the essence of everyday life in the American South. Tamirah’s art serves as a narrative of remembrance, intricately putting together her life experiences, familial bonds, and the culture of her communities. Tamirah’s commitment to her authenticity shows, as she skillfully portrays family members, friends, and community while placing them in local hotspots, displaying the raw. Pulling inspiration from surroundings that are personal, she visualizes personality and character of growing up in the urban south.
Tamirah was included in the 2023 AXA Art Prize as one of the finalists invited to exhibit work at the New York Art Academy in New York City. In 2024, Tamirah’s work, “Round the Neighborhood” was exhibited in Venice, Italy for inclusion in the global art prize Arte Laguna at the Arsenale. Arte Laguna runs concurrently with the Biennale and includes 160 artworks from around the world. Tamirah’s work has been exhibited in Savannah and New York, and written about in the Savannah Connect. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Painting, 2024 and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Artistry and Citizenship in the Painting Department.
Read about my work in SCAD’s 2024 Painting BFA Showcase:
Artist Statement
My artistic vision is rooted in the belief that universal experiences can be depicted in a personal way. Through a lens of my black southern existence, my work celebrates the commitment to authenticity, capturing the beauty found in the everyday and elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary. My work serves as a testament to the richness of my African American culture and the importance of preserving and sharing one’s own narrative.
I intertwine personal memories and acts of reminiscing to connect with viewers from their perspective. Family, friends, and community are my muses. They are my inspiration and the backdrop to share our experiences. I invite contemplation, taking the audience to a specific time and place where memories are alive. The use of the color red that has been shared through my kinfolks to the inclusion of hometown novelties, such as thrills and boiled peanuts, I create work that feels relatable to my community and insightful to the outsider’s perspective.