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According to artist and critic Quddus Mirza, Tazeen Qayyum's works represent a new shift in the aesthetic of the contemporary miniature. "Tazeen, in her opaque watercolour and digital print on wasli, combines the painted and printed imagery. Although various sections of her work -- painted by hand or from a computer -- were created separately, she blends the two parts in such a manner that a new and independent narrative is created. She often uses the picture of an insect, mainly the cockroach, next to lavish and exquisite pieces of fabric or thread reels with a design painted on them. Probably for the painter, who lives abroad, the image of a cockroach -- a creature that can survive in the most unfavourable circumstances and hostile environments -- signifies the position of an expatriate, who often has to live in unpleasant surroundings and hard conditions." (Q. Mirza, "A Different Kind of Animal," The News, Karachi, 24 September 2006.)