Zainab Masoud is more than just an artist—she’s a political activist channeling her beliefs through art.
This wasn’t always the goal, though. As an artist who has experience with still life and landscapes, Masoud says that her political art wasn’t initially on her radar. “[Political art] has just come naturally,” she explained. “I haven’t necessarily tried to go into that sector, but I definitely want to create more. It is just an outlet and reaction to what I’ve been seeing, and these ideas have been accumulating for years.”
She posted one of her recent art pieces, titled American Pie, on Instagram on July 4, accompanied by the caption, “How could I enjoy my slice of freedom when it comes at the cost of others?” The first reaction, assumedly for many, upon first glance at the artwork is a sense of patriotism. What appears to be an American flag cradles the edible symbol of the nuclear family and suburbia while the White House stands tall in the background. A closer look reveals more. A bloody hand reaches out of the lattice crust. Workers scrape up the gory remains of a bald eagle.
The piece features a myriad of these political images, but at the forefront of it all is the American classic: pie. Of course, reactions were mixed.
“I think it depends on the specific piece and what people interpret it as,” Masoud said. “Mainly good reviews. Maybe I’m just been blessed to be surrounded in a bubble of people that think like me.” While the threat of bots, however, plagues social media comments, Masoud doesn’t want to write them off as fake criticism. “I don’t even want to say that [the bot comments are] real, but some of them definitely are real hate.”
Self-taught through YouTube tutorials, Masoud didn’t become serious with her work until her 20s. This is when she finally had the time to dedicate energy to her creativity. “As a kid, I’ve always just been handed some crayons and colors and stuff, so it really just started there,” she began. “I remember in middle school, that’s really when I honed in on it. In high school, I actually hardly created anything, because I thought I needed to focus on my grades and stuff. Ironically, I figured out that suppressing the creative side of me would bring down the rest of my actions.”
With pieces taking months to complete, and with up to 20 hours total dedicated to a specific artwork, Masoud says that she was going with the flow of where her art may lead her. The current climate, though, has swayed her. “I think recently I am trying to hone down on being a political artist because I think I need to feel like I’m doing something to impact the world, almost,” she said.
And impact the world she is. With over 13,000 followers on Instagram, Masoud reaches an audience much farther than that of the protests she also frequents. “I definitely appreciate how art as an outlet can open people’s minds,” she said. “Right now I’m basically just posting what I’m making and who knows what avenues that’ll take me to.”
Art, in her mind, is crucial to the progression of society and the support of education and critical thinking. After all, physical art is perhaps the one thing that will forever make the viewer do the most important thing: think. “I never realized how a lack of art supports anti-intellectualism and how I’m seeing that manifest its way into our society nowadays,” she concluded. “So I really want to stress how important art is as a grown up, thinking that it wasn’t important at all.”
Photos courtesy of Zainab Masoud/@turmericpowderr | Interviewed on August 28, 2025
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