Painting to Zahra Ali is solving puzzles in her brain. It gives her a sense of power as she can attempt to control the world around her. This realization came at an early age. As such, her combination of cultural experiences manifests as layers and colors in her work.

Ali grew up in Karachi, Pakistan with a population of over 15 million. In this urban metropolis, storytelling was iconographed on public buses. Buses are more than a mode of transport for passengers; they are a joyous sight to passers-by that share a story. In a system where bus drivers own their buses, drivers would decorate the bus exteriors to showcase their ancestral origins with lines of poetry interwoven with ethnic iconography.