Narmeen is an artist, social rights advocate, and geographer. She has a passion for working towards a more just, equitable world through inspiring creative activation in hearts. She combines her passion for human dignity and global wellness as a geographer by working with others to strategize micro and macro solutions that integrate an intersectional knowing of the social and physical world; human community and earths capacity.

 Narmeen holds a Bachelor of Arts Honors in Geography and Political Science from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Arts in Geography from York University. Her MA thesis is titled ‘The Paint Marks the Place: The Mural Art of Resistance in Oakland, California.’ For which she received awards for academic excellence.

Narmeen believes in positive possibilities for urban space which balance the rights of the people with urban rejuvenation efforts. For 8 years she dedicated herself to housing rights advocacy at CERA the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (A Canadian Social Rights Organization). At CERA she provided direct assistance to individuals and families facing housing discrimination in the rental market; negotiating with housing providers to both keep families housed, and to have appropriate human rights accommodations made to their homes while working on National and International Housing Rights advocacy projects. During her time at CERA, Narmeen assisted Human Rights expert Leilani Farha (current UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing) in international cases to apply human rights law to advise against instances of forced eviction, homelessness, and housing injustice. Concurrent to this in her role as a housing rights advocate Narmeen co-facilitated the Women’s Housing Equality Network and established the first Youth Housing Rights program at CERA. Here she also developed her skills in non-profit development and management.

Parallel to her work on urban justice making, since 2005 Narmeen has organized and delivered over 30 successful Community Art Projects with the aim to inspire hope, dignity, and action in communities that have faced divestment and systemic injustice. Working from a place of co-creation with partner community artists and organizations and an approach that centers the voices of local residents and Other ways of being, these projects have served to build connection, inspire agency, and hope in disparate geographies.  

 The interwoven aspects of working in the fields of urban justice, housing rights, and community art that center on representation and meaningful participation of societally made marginalized groups combine into her passion as a geographer in the field of human geography; on projects that investigate the relationships between place, race, power, and belonging; and understanding the impact colonialism and discrimination play in where and how groups find a sense of place and belonging, and how those who have been prevented from possessing systemic power resist erasure and mistreatment through DIY efforts of artivism.

 Since transplanting to the Ojai Valley in 2015, Narmeen has studied in the Art of Council at the Ojai Foundation, integrating the ancient art of speaking and listening from the heart to facilitate intentional communal conversation as a means of healing, reconciliation, and deepening human understanding and connection.

In 2021 Narmeen Co-Created the Seeds of Belonging: Inclusive Early Childhood Spaces Program, an anti bias anti racism education program for preschool educators and parents in the Ojai Valley that aims to cultivate understanding, accountability, accommodation, and respect among difference in our local community and in the world at large.

Along with stewarding this work, she is currently working as a creative consultant, combining her capacity to activate ideas, hearts, and communities towards more sustainable and dignified spaces and lives for all.