Aliza Nisenbaum was born in Mexico City in 1977. Initially, she began studying psychology in Mexico City before deciding she wanted to go into painting. Aliza moved to Chicago where she got her B.F.A and M.F.A at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her style is greatly influenced by the Mexican Muralist movement and artists like Alice Neel, who painted intensely personal portraits.

In 2012, while Nisenbaum was living in New York, she was asked by artist Tania Bruguera for help teaching at Immigrant Movement International, a community center for local immigrants. Many of the immigrants were undocumented, and spoke little to no English. She decided to teach them English while also teaching them about art history.

During her time teaching, Aliza became very close to her students. After becoming involved in their lives and hearing stories about their lives, she decided she wanted to paint them.

Nisenbaum would often paint students in their own homes or invite them into hers. Because her students were often adult women with families, their children and husbands were often painted with them. She also liked to use textile patterns often found in their homes in the paintings.

Aliza paints her portraits from life, and therefore spends hours staring at her subjects. She is very interested in the personal relationships that are formed as she paints. Many conversations are had about her life and her subject’s life. I think the personal relationship she has with her subjects can be seen in her works.

My Yoga, 2019, Oil on linen, 24 x 22 inches (61 x 55.9 cm)

Nisenbaum sees a lot of her works as political statements. Her paintings help bring light to people who are obliged to live in shadows.

“To pay attention to someone can be a political act.”

Sources: https://www.vogue.com/article/aliza-nisenbaum-artist-immigration-political-portraits https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2016/october/26/aliza-nisenbaum-why-i-paint/