Rooted in Black feminist thought, Fazlalizadeh's practice examines how power is experienced in everyday life and how art can create opportunities for visibility, confrontation, and transformation. She is widely recognized for Stop Telling Women to Smile, the landmark public art project that confronts gender-based street harassment and has influenced conversations about public space, gender violence, and socially engaged art internationally. Her broader body of work includes exhibitions, site-specific installations, publications, films, and community-centered initiatives that explore identity, cultural memory, and the lived experiences of Black communities.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the California African American Museum and Art & Practice, and group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2018, she became the inaugural Public Artist in Residence for the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Her work has been featured by The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and Time.
In addition to her artistic practice, Fazlalizadeh creates platforms that support artists, dialogue, and cultural exchange. She is the founder of Lynn & Lorraine, an experimental arts space and residency program in upstate New York that supports Black and brown artists. Through her work as an artist, educator, writer, and organizer, she continues to expand the possibilities of art as a tool for public engagement, cultural memory, and collective imagination.
Artist Residencies
2023 Kino Saito, Verplanck, NY
2021 MoMA PS1, Queens, NY
Public Art Residencies
2019 New York City Commission on Human Rights, New York, NY
Fellowships
2025-2028 Tulsa Artist Fellowship
2022 University of Michigan Institute for Humanities Mellon Foundation Fellowship
Public Art Commissions
2022 MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (with Lenny Correra and Nani Chacon)
2022 Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, Englewood, NJ
2022 Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA
2021 Greenwood Art Projects, Tulsa, OK
2019 NYC Commission on Human Rights, New York, NY
2015 Columbia University, Chicago, IL
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Finding Soft Ground, Art & Practice, Los Angeles, CA
2023 Speaking to Falling Seeds, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Pressed Against My Own Glass, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2021 The Day is Past and Gone, Greenwood Art Projects, Tulsa, OK
2019 Oklahoma is Black, Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
2018 Personal is Political, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Spike Lee: Creative Sources, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2022 After the Fire, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY
(mural and community engagement project with Lenny Correra and Nani Chacon)
2021 Black American Portraits, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Intricate Intimate, Allouche Gallery, New York, NY
2020 Catalyst: Art and Social Justice, Gracie Mansion, New York, NY
Out of Touch, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Mirror, Mirror, Paul Robeson Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
The New Contemporaries Vol 1, Residency Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015 شگفت آور (fabulous), Shirin Gallery, New York, NY
Public Works: Artists' Interventions 1970s-Now, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
Vacancy: Urban Interruption and (Re)generation, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL
(in collaboration with artist Amanda Williams)
Lectures / Artist Talks
2023 University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School Symposium
2022 Princeton University
University of Michigan Penny Stamps Lecture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2018 California State Channel Islands
The University of the Arts
2017 The University of the Arts
NYC Commission on Human Rights Forum
2016 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Open Engagement Conference
2015 Loyola University
Western Michigan University
Brown University
University of Southern California
University of Texas
Beloit College
University of Montana
Pratt Institute
2014 Brooklyn Museum
Stanford University
Santa Monica College
Georgia State University
George Mason University
Panel Discussions
2023 California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
In conversation with Lena Waithe
2018 Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
In conversation with Kimberle' Crenshaw, Barbara Arnwire, and Samantha Masters
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
In conversation with Jessica Sabogal and Melinda James
2016 The New School, New York, NY
In conversation with Mychal Denzel Smith, Rembert Brown, and Alexis Coe
Rock the Vote's Truth to Power, Philadelphia, PA
In conversation with Danny Glover, Asheru, Touré, and Aaron Huey
New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
In conversation with Candy Chang
2015 Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
In conversation with Spike Lee and Kehinde Wiley
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
In conversation with Damon Davis and Dread Scott
Brooklyn Museum , Brooklyn, NY
In conversation with Zanele Muholi and Staceyann Chin