EIP: How would you describe your artwork, and what led you to explore this particular form of expression? Did it involve a lot of experimentation?

SARAH: I like to describe my work as joyful or a big hug. My work definitely holds a lot of meaning and purpose to me in other ways, but ultimately, the reason I put most of it out into the world, is to spread positivity and celebrate love.

Having learnt Graphic Design within a western lens whilst living in the Middle East, I was particularly drawn towards imagery around me and online that I thought were beautiful and endearing but went against a lot of the western design rules for “good design”. Good morning WhatsApp images are just one example of that, and one of my favourites. This led me to question what “good design” really was and whether these standards held by the western design world were worth sticking to. I was determined to break all the rules I learnt and to do so by drawing inspiration from the imagery I was surrounded by, grew up with and received from loved ones online.

My work did involve a lot of experimentation at the beginning of my creative journey which is what led to me figuring out my style and gaining the confidence to be more bold in my design choices.

EIP: In what ways does your art reflect your Sudanese heritage, and why is that connection meaningful to you?

SARAH: The main way that my art reflects my Sudanese heritage is that I am Sudanese and I am making the artwork. There are some pieces I have made that directly highlight my Sudanese identity but to me, every piece is connected to my heritage because I am the outcome of generations of Sudanese people and everything I do will always reflect parts of that.

The connection to my heritage has always been important to me because it’s who I am, but it has also become even more important in recent times given the killing and displacement of so many Sudanese people and the attempt to erase family history and culture. Now, more than ever, it is so important for me to highlight my Sudanese identity and heritage in everything I do.

EIP: Out of everything you’ve created, which art piece holds the most memorable place in your heart?

SARAH: The zine I designed in 2023 titled: ‘in the bloom of their joy and the flower of their happiness’ is one I hold quite close to my heart. It’s an accumulation of research I did surrounding beauty and love within an islamic and Arab philosophical context, as well as various artwork I made during that period of time. I feel like it’s really an embodiment of so many things I believe in, in an almost solely visual format.

The cover of the zine is made up of a puffy sticker sheet of WhatsApp stickers my mother sent me, and the insides are 4 colour risograph printed pages each of which display a piece of art work or phrase developed in my research that holds meaning to me. It is such a personal project, and I never imagined it to be received as well as it was, reminding me just how important it is as an artist to be vulnerable with your audience.

EIP: You mention belief in the divine as an influence. How does this manifest in your work—subtly or overtly?

SARAH: My work is often about demonstrating manifestations of love and one part of Islamic art and architecture that has always fascinated me is how maximalism and grandeur is used to demonstrate an infinite love for the divine, this is also the driving force for a lot of my own maximalist artwork. I also have a deep desire to create beauty with my artwork whilst also challenging what our standards of beauty are. There’s a famous quote in the Islamic tradition that says “Allah (God) is beauty and loves all things beautiful”. Within an Islamic philosophical point of view, beauty could be defined by many different things - love between two people, the reflection of the self in an object, remembrance of god, etc. But one that has always particularly interested me is the imitation of nature. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), a polymath from the Andalusia, held the opinion that art could never compete with the beauty of nature, but that it could perhaps come close and that “…the nobility of the artist will depend on the degree of excellence with which he imitates nature…” Although a lot of my work is digital or abstract, most of where I draw my own inspiration draws its inspiration from nature: roses, doves, pearls, plants, bright colours, etc. One way to glorify the divine is to amplify the beauty in creation, and I hope to do some of that with some of the work I make.

EIP: What is your first memory of digital nostalgia for you personally and what was your connection to that?

SARAH: It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly which one was the first, but I do remember when WhatsApp first introduced the sticker feature on chats, because it totally changed the game for sharing digital nostalgia. The most memorable of those would all be from my parents, I love them (and the stickers!).