A 2007 portrait of New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani painted by celebrated Pakistani American artist Salman Toor surfaced following Mamdani’s victory in the city’s Democratic primary on June 24th. The portrait was posted on Instagram by novelist Amitav Ghosh—a longtime friend of Mamdani’s mother, the filmmaker Mira Nair.
Completed when Mamdani was a teenager, Toor’s portrait captures his subject with tousled hair and soft expression, rendered in warm, earthy tones. “I’ve known Zohran since he was a little boy, and it has been amazing to see this kind, considerate, and caring young man growing into a really effective politician,” Ghosh wrote in his post.
“It was 2007. The portrait was a study—a sketch of intention. It was meant to lead to something larger: a family portrait for my friend, the filmmaker Mira Nair, Zohran’s mother,” Toor told Artsy via a representative from his gallery, Luhring Augustine. “Looking at it now, years later, I see more than I intended—or perhaps less. The teenage Zohran gazes out with something in the eyes that hints at a beginning, an arc already forming. There’s a sense of inevitability, of destiny.
“That’s the trap and the magic of portraiture: It tells a story you never meant to write. And the story it tells now is one of auspicious promise—one we still hope to see in full bloom.”
Mamdani, a 33-year-old New York state assemblyman from Queens, won the Democratic primary in a surprise upset over former governor Andrew Cuomo. Centered on housing justice and economic equity, Mamdani’s campaign tapped into growing anxieties over New York City’s affordability crisis.
Toor, who is widely recognized for his expressive figurative paintings of queer people navigating city life in New York and South Asia, painted the portrait while completing his MFA at Pratt Institute, before his rise to prominence. A member of the Artsy Vanguard 2020, the artist has presented solo exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Toor is currently the subject of a solo exhibition, “Wish Maker,” spanning Luhring Augustine’s locations in Tribeca and Chelsea. On view through July 25th, the show features a new body of work exploring diasporic and queer identity.
