Zimbiri (born 1991) is a painter and contemporary artist from Bhutan. She was the first woman to have a solo art exhibition in Bhutan. Inspired by writers such as Shel Silverstein and William Blake, as well as minimalism and Bhutanese culture, she is a leading figure in Bhutan's contemporary art scene.
Born in 1991 in Thimpu, Zimbiri grew up in Bhutan.[1] She has a degree in Fine Art and Economics from Wheaton College, USA.[2] Her first show, Faces, was the first solo contemporary art exhibition by a woman to be held in Bhutan.[1][3] Held in 2015, the series was inspired by Shel Silverstein's poem Everything on It.[4] She has exhibited her work in Taipei,[5] at the Royal Textile Academy of Bhutan,[6] and in 2020 Grosvenor Gallery in London was the first institution to show her work in Britain.[7] There she exhibited work as part of Asian Art in London, showing part of her body of work inspired by the tiger.[8]
Zimbiri uses traditional Bhutanese materials, such as hand-woven canvases (rhay-shing) and natural paints (saa-tshen).[7][9] She is inspired by minimalism and colour field painting,[7] as well as Bhutanese culture, from masks to flowers.[10] She has also experimented with producing work as an NFT.[11] In 2022, her series Imaginary Lines, inspired by the work William Blake, was exhibited at Nature Morte in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi.[12][13]
According to Kinley Wangmo, her work is a signifcant contribution to Bhutanese contemporary art.[10] For Jason Hopper, her work demonstrates "the increased participation of women in contemporary art" in Bhutan.[14] For Ma Padioleau, she is "the leading female artist in Bhutan".[15]