Aliza Nisenbaum

(b. 1977)

Aliza Nisenbaum’s vibrant paintings are deeply embedded in the communities they represent. Building on the legacy of the 20th-century Mexican muralist tradition, Nisenbaum sees art as a necessarily public practice and civic duty. Born in Mexico City, Nisenbaum moved to Chicago at age 20 to study at the School of the Art Institute, first for her BFA and later for an MFA. From 2005 to 2006, she spent a year teaching in the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Arts, where she worked alongside the Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera. When she relocated to New York City (where she is currently based), Nisenbaum became active in Bruguera’s Immigrant Movement International, a space for public art and community programming in Corona, Queens. Nisenbaum was commissioned to create a large-scale mural, Reading Circles/Weaving Dreams/Seeding Futures, for the Chicago Public Library branch located on the Obama Presidential Center campus.