Karimah Hassan is a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges painting, poetry, and performance to explore the intersections of spirituality, consciousness, and storytelling. Drawing from her Welsh, Yemeni, and Bangladeshi heritage, she weaves themes of identity, belonging, and the human experience into a distinct visual and spoken language.
With an MA in Architecture from the Royal College of Art, Hassan approaches painting as an immersive, community-driven practice. Her work has been exhibited at Maddox Gallery, Selfridges, and the Sarabande Foundation, and she has collaborated with institutions including The Barbican and Burberry.
A former artist-in-residence at Sarabande, founded by Alexander McQueen, Hassan created Strangers Yearbook, a globally recognised project that evolved into a published book and a permanent installation at London’s King’s Cross. Recent residencies include Rosewood London in collaboration with Frieze 2024, and The Standard, NYC, where her paintings are currently on display. She is preparing for her largest solo exhibition to date, If Thoughts Become Things, opening in Ibiza in 2025. Alongside her studio practice, Hassan curates The Gremlins newsletter, a platform for dialogue, mentorship, and creative reflection for emerging artists worldwide.
Statement
My practice is an act of connection, between memory and imagination, between the seen and the felt. Rooted in my Welsh, Yemeni, and Bangladeshi heritage, I work with painting and spoken word as twin vessels for storytelling, seeking to translate the language of consciousness into colour, gesture, and rhythm.
I am drawn to the places where identity blurs, between cultures, between physical and spiritual landscapes, between the individual and the collective. Each work begins as a conversation, sometimes with a person, sometimes with a place, sometimes with an unspoken question. The canvas becomes a meeting ground where personal histories, community voices, and symbolic forms converge.
Architecture taught me to build spaces. Painting taught me to dissolve their walls. Whether through large-scale works for public spaces or intimate portraits that carry the weight of lived experience, I aim to create spaces that invite reflection, recognition, and transformation.
My upcoming exhibition, If Thoughts Become Things, continues this exploration. It is an unfolding inquiry into how the inner world shapes the outer one, and how art can be both a mirror and a catalyst for change.