Details
| First Name | Sarmed |
| Last Name | Mirza |
| Username | sarmed |
Statement
| Statement | My practice is shaped by stillness, emotional clarity, and the spaces between memory and transformation. I often work at small scale to invite slow looking, to disrupt urgency and create pause. Whether through figurative drawings or abstract micro-paintings, I explore how inner states and outer ecologies reflect and shape one another. Water, light, grief, and quiet attention appear often in my work. I see drawing as a form of witnessing. Painting as a way of listening. Making as a form of prayer. I believe art can hold space for contradiction. For tenderness. For reimagining what it means to evolve, together. |
Biography
| Biography | Sarmed Mirza is an award-winning British Asian multidisciplinary artist and BAFTA Scotland New Talent-nominated filmmaker. His work spans drawing, painting, storytelling, and ecological myth-making. Mostly self-taught and unbound by academic conventions, he began drawing in 2017 and briefly trained at a classical atelier to refine his observational skills. His creative path is rooted in emotional truth, curiosity, and a deep contemplative practice. Art-making emerged as a form of inward listening and outward seeing, shaped by a transformative meditation journey. His practice moves between realism and abstraction, often drawn from memory, loss, and states of inner transformation. He explores themes of spiritual evolution, belonging, and speculative ecology. His portraits and visionary micro-paintings have been recognised by the Scottish Portrait Awards, the Scottish Fine Art Prize, and the 136th Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition where he received an award. He has exhibited across the UK, Canada, and Dubai, and is co-founder of the Common Ground Collective. In 2025, Sarmed published his first book, Zero Ground: The Handshake, a collection of essays, drawings, and reflections on conflict, care, and perception. An excerpt from the book was published in the Society of Scottish Artists’ 2025 Essay Project. He also delivers drawing and meditation workshops, and directed the BAFTA Scotland New Talent-nominated feature An Act of Terror, a film about identity, belonging, and social justice. His teaching practice continues quietly, welcoming students as they find him. His work is shaped by travel, inner work, and the search for stillness in a restless world. |