About
Zain Alam (b. 1990) is an artist and composer of Indian/Pakistani origin born in Flushing, Queens and raised outside of Atlanta. His work emerges from a lifelong question: in what ways can sound convey the ineffable? He contemplates especially the distance between the effable in one language and what lies beyond translation to another.

Alam’s recording project Humeysha began during his year working as an oral historian for 1947 Partition Archive. Across video, performance, and installation, sound remains the central organizing principle in Alam's practice, in addition to collaborations in film, sculpture, and design.

Alam completed his graduate work in Islamic studies at Harvard University. He is a spring 2025 Vermont Studio Center fellow and currently at work on the installation piece Meter & Light: Night, slated to premiere July 2025 at The Shed in New York City. 

“By the passage of time, man is in a state of loss indeed.” (103:1-2)
زين العابدين