Sara Naim

Sara Naim (b. 1987, London) is a multidisciplinary Syrian artist whose practice explores the fluid space between perception and construct. She is concerned with how perception is mediated by proximity, boundary, and polarity. Approaching polarity through a non-dualistic lens, Naim understands boundaries as points of connection—between nation and territory, skin and touch, representation and construct, pleasure and pain.

She examines how rigid notions of separateness operate across individual, social, and national frameworks. Employing a methodology that fuses forensic observation, performative gesture, and philosophical inquiry, her media coexist: photographs are sculptural, sculptures are painterly, and paintings reference photography.

Naim received her MFA from The Slade School of Fine Art, London (2014), and completed a bachelor’s in photography from London College of Communication.

Her selected solo shows include Rose Tinted, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Volt Eastbourne, Eastbourne, UK (2022); Building Blocks, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2019); Reaction, Parafin, London, UK (2018); When Heartstrings Collapse, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2016); Heartstrings, Hayward Gallery Concrete, London, UK (2016).

Selected group shows include Taoyuan International Art Award, Taiwan (2023); There Goes the Neighbourhood, Indigo + Madder, London, UK (2022); Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK (2022); Jeddah Photo 2022, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2022); Portrait of a Nation II, Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2022); Science Fictions, Centre Photographique Rouen, Normandie, France (2019), Contemporary Photography from the Arab World, Katzen Arts Center, American University Museum, Washington D.C., USA (2018); Artificial Impressions, Stedelijk Museum Breda, Breda, Netherlands (2018); Chambre 10, Sans Titre, Paris, France; Secular Icons in an Age of Moral Uncertainty, Parafin, London, UK (2017).

Art residencies include Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris (2019, 2018, 2016), and Beirut Art Residency (2015). Naim was commissioned by Alserkal Avenue for the January Artist Takeover (2020), and for Hospital Rooms London (2017). She participated in Artissima (2020) as a solo presentation, Not Cancelled, Frieze London (2019, 2017), Frieze New York (2017), and FIAC (2015).

Sara Lives and works between London and Dubai.