Zarah Cassim

Zarah Cassim (b. 1992) is a painter whose work explores the complex nature of perception. Using both painting and photography, she crafts immersive encounters with spatial illusion, reflecting the distinct creative filter through which she views the world.

Central to Cassim's practice is a fascination with natural forms and landscapes, which she uses to evoke a sense of disorientation. Within these environments, she mirrors a chaotic or absurd world, probing the breaking points of the human condition. Her work shifts between surfaces that revel in the flat, textural beauty of the painted mark and dream-like, ungraspable landscapes that threaten to dissolve upon inspection.

Each piece is a sensitive and personal reflection—a romantic memory translated into a visual medium that invites the viewer to be seduced by both the illusion and the material used to create it.

Cassim graduated with an Honours in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town in 2014. She currently lives and works between Paris and Cape Town.