Murtaza Vali, Graduate Student - Gothamist
Gothamist is a website about New York

GOTHAMIST: You’re currently studying art but you also have a Master of Science from Johns Hopkins in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. How did you get from there to here?

MURTAZA VALI: ...I was born and raised in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates - one of the oil rich Gulf states which as a country is about as old as I am. I’m an Indian citizen though, always have been. The U.A.E. doesn’t give citizenship to people born there. So, I’ve never lived in the only country that has been kind enough to claim me as its own and have instead divided my life between two countries that have categorized me as (resident) alien. Although I’m eligible for naturalization in the US now, which I will gladly take up, especially since India just recently allowed dual citizenship and I won’t have to surrender that passport.
...
As a kid I liked to draw and paint and when I got to the US and had the opportunity to take art classes at school, I did and really enjoyed them. At college, although I was decidedly pre-med, I was curious and eager to explore what else was out there. Unfortunately, Johns Hopkins didn’t have a very strong studio arts program. What it did have was a strong Art History department.
...
I’m a full-time graduate student in the midst of a Ph.D. in Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts/New York University. The focus of my studies is 20th Century European & American art and for my dissertation I’m hoping to untangle the varied ways in which contemporary artists from outside the West, now settled in the West – for example, artists like Shahzia Sikander, Shirin Neshat, Do-Ho Suh, Kimsooja, Ghada Amer - translate their culture, through their art practices. I’m particularly interested in exploring the effect that their increasing visibility has on mainstream art discourse in the West.