Bio
Tehreem Mela studied Art Studio and Politics at Mount Holyoke College’19. At MHC, Mela founded a student protest campaign called ‘Mount Holyoke Doesn’t Teach Me’ focused on the missing histories in the western canon. Post graduation, she was a resident at the House of Kal Artists Residency (2021), collaborator with the Film Foundry in Nepal (2022) and resident Teacher and Coordinator at Harsukh School (2021-2024). She is interested in enacting an indigenous pedagogical model for rural students in Punjab, Pakistan. Originally trained as a painter, Mela’s art practice is interdisciplinary and responds to her lived reality and the available resources.
Contact
mela22t@mtholyoke.edu
Education
2019 BA in Studio Art and Politics at, Magna Cum Laude with Honor, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, United States (GPA: 3.9)
2015 A Levels: Math, Economics, Art & Design (Cambridge Achiever’s Award for Highest Grade achieved in Advanced Level Art & Design in Pakistan)
Exhibitions
2025 (Forthcoming) ‘Phase 2 Chennai Photo Biennale,‘ Chennai, India
2023 ‘Allomorphs of an Antecedent,’ Konya, Turkey
2023 ‘NGBK House of Kal Exhibition,’ Berlin, Germany
2022 ‘One Picture Exhibition,‘ Film Foundry, Kathmandu, Nepal
2022 ‘Night of the Year,‘ Chennai Photo Biennale curation at Les Recontres D’arles, Arles, France
2022 ‘Kal: Fragments from a Collected Archive,’ 12Gates Gallery, PA, United States
2021 ‘Who Am I?‘ Group Show, Lakir Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2021 ‘House of Kal Open House‘, Group Show, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan
2019 ‘Re(Composed) Bodies’, Honors Thesis Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, MA, United States
2018 ‘It’s Not about space it’s about s p a c e’, Group Show Hampshire College Art Gallery, MA, United States
2016 ‘Do You Mind?’ Group Show Teen Art Gallery, New York, NY, United States
Residencies + Workshops
2022 Speaker, Punjabi Preet Conference, Okara, Pakistan
2022 Residency with Gursimran Pannu and Film Foundry, Kathmandu, Nepal
2021 Artist in Residence, House of Kal Artists Residency, Karachi, Pakistan
2021 Zine Making Workshop + The History of Queer Zines, Open House, House of Kal, Karachi, Pakistan
Collections
Permanent Collection: Blanchard Community Center, Mount Holyoke College
Private Collections: Acquisitions by Professors from Mount Holyoke College and Yale University
Academic Honors
2019 Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa – Oldest academic society in the United States
2019 Libby Rosenfield Himmelstein Prize – Graduating Senior with the best Politics paper
2019 Ruth Warfel Art Prize – Leadership and Service Award
2019 Sarah Williston Scholar – Students with the highest grades end of sophomore/junior year
2019 Phyllis Walsh Memorial Scholar – Scholastic excellence, excellent creativity, and innovation
2016- 2019 Ray Family International Students Scholar – Merit based aid to international students chosen in their first year
2019 Student Org of the Year – President of the awarded organisation Kuch Karo
2017 Robert P. Sibley Prize for first year students who show promise in English
Experience
2024 Co-founder, Hilm
2022 Teacher and Coordinator, Harsukh School Lahore, Pakistan
2022 Illustrator, Wakhra Studios Lahore, Pakistan
2019-2022 Associate Analyst, PublicRelay, Washington DC, United States