Safwat Saleem is a multidisciplinary artist who tells stories about immigrant life, especially the parts shaped by cultural loss, resistance, and the messy business of trying to belong. His work comes from his own experience as a Pakistani-born, Muslim immigrant raising multiracial kids in the American Southwest. He uses humor and deeply personal storytelling through illustration, film, sound, design, and writing to challenge dominant narratives around identity, masculinity and assimilation.

Safwat’s recent honors include the Scult Mid-Career Award (2024), Charles Clements Award at the Arizona Biennial (2024), Define American Fellowship (2023), AAPI Creative Catalyst Fellowship (2023), and the Arizona Commission on the Arts Research & Development Grant (2023). His work has been exhibited at the Open Data Institute at Cartagena Data Festival (Colombia), Phoenix Art Museum (AZ), Wing Luke Museum (WA) and Puffin Cultural Forum (NJ).

Committed to socially engaged art, he has collaborated with organizations like Represent Us Now (RUN AAPI), SAADA, 18 Million Rising and Fine Acts. He also founded Bandbaja, an early online Pakistani-American music magazine that treated pop music as a tool for protest and change. Safwat lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona, and still has to explain where that accent is from.

CV available upon request.