Suhaylah Hamid

“(...) being able to look at an image thinking you’re forever on the cusp of something you can’t quite reach, nevertheless being utterly encompassed, allowing yourself to experience whatever it is that occurs when the supposed boundaries of all things corporeal and intangible vanish.” – Suhaylah Hamid

Suhaylah H is a UK-based artist whose work blends natural landscapes with dreamlike symbolism. Drawing from her background in Environmental Geography and Comparative Literature, she creates scenes where trees, birds and stones carry poetic weight and spiritual resonance. Her pieces and practice evoke a quiet mysticism grounded in close observation, calling on multiple materials to document both the vast and intimate experiences of a landscape. Her process - walking, sketching, and collecting field notes - fuelling a visual language rich in mood and metaphor. Since 2021, she has exhibited widely, including solo shows at BWG Gallery and Pilgrim's Contemporary, group exhibitions with HdM Gallery with Partnership Editions, and a commission from the V&A Museum.

Suhaylah's work echoes Romantic and Symbolist traditions alongside inspiration drawn from Islamic art. Through vivid, atmospheric imagery, she invites viewers into a world where the perceived boundaries between the corporeal and the spiritual dissolve.

Process

Cyclical and immersive, Suhaylah's process is one of rigorous documentation, rooted in observation and rumination. This often begins with walking, gathering sketches, notes and sounds that become the seeds of her compositions. These field explorations feed into a studio practice that balances spontaneity with reflection, where memory and intuition guide the layering of symbols, textures and forms. Working from a vast collection of materials that includes various paints, ink and pastels, she builds her images slowly, allowing the materials to shape mood and meaning.