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Afshar

My work sits between structure and instinct. Before becoming a full-time artist, I worked in banking, specialising in Financial Crime and Reputational Risk. That experience taught me to look closely, question appearances and stay with complexity. In the studio, that discipline meets a much freer way of working.

I paint mainly with acrylic on canvas, exploring freedom, femininity, cultural identity and the tension between pain and pleasure. A painting often begins with a feeling I cannot fully explain. I build it through colour, texture and movement until something honest appears. Although the starting point is personal, I am drawn to emotions many of us recognise: belonging, change, vulnerability and strength.

My process is physical and instinctive. I apply pigment in unconventional ways, then layer, remove and redraw until the composition feels resolved. I also work with charcoal, watercolour and oils when the subject calls for a different kind of mark. I do not try to control every stage. Accidents, interruptions and traces of earlier decisions remain part of the finished painting.

I live and work in London. My surrealist paintings were shown at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery for more than a year, and I have organised art auctions to raise money for people in need. In 2025, I received a Highly Commended distinction at the Learner Awards for Creative Industries (Art), presented by the Mayor of Westminster. Painting gives me a way to think through memory, identity and emotion, while leaving room for questions that do not have neat answers.