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. His background spans visual art, film, teaching and creative-sector leadership, including previously serving on the board of Glasgow Media Access Centre (GMAC). He was BAFTA Scotland New Talent-nominated as a filmmaker and has exhibited and received recognition across major Scottish art institutions, including the Royal Scottish Academy. 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, and his Monument Valley: Silent Witness reached the 2nd stage of John Moores Painting Prize in 2025 and ReGenesis has been long listed for The Artist Prize 2026. He has exhibited across the UK, Canada, and Dubai. In 2025, Sarmed published his first book, Zero Ground: The Handshake, bringing together essays, drawings and reflections on conflict, care and perception. Three of his essays, including an excerpt from the book, have since been selected for publication as part of the Society of Scottish Artists’ Essay Project. He produced, co-wrote and edited the BAFTA Scotland New Talent-nominated feature An Act of Terror, a film about identity, belonging, and social justice. Alongside his studio practice, Sarmed teaches drawing and painting through workshops, one-to-one tuition and his online Art With Courage community. His teaching helps artists build confidence, strengthen their skills and develop a sustainable creative practice. Several of his students have gone on to exhibit and sell their work. His work is shaped by travel, inner work, and the search for stillness in a restless world. |