Maryam Adam

Artist and graphic designer Maryam Adam is putting a spotlight on physical craft practices historically sidelined by Western design culture. Her mehndi practice – a traditional form of body art, also known as henna – has led to work on films and features with brands like Levi’s. She’s also trained her hand at embroidery, natural dyeing and fabric printing, using her work to explore nature, heritage and decolonial narratives. Below, the multi-skilled creative chats finding strength in community and the challenges of being in rooms where no one else looked like her.

What I do

My creative practice
I am an Illustrator, artist, graphic designer and mehndi practitioner from East London. My interdisciplinary practice spans illustration, painting, textiles, animation and typography. I enjoy experimenting across mediums to expand the possibilities of storytelling, using digital and handmade processes like natural dyes and fabric printing. Through surreal and nature-driven imagery, my work reflects the Gujarati/interlingual word ‘naram’, meaning soft or gentle.

My work researches the marginalisation of global majority communities and craft practices that have been historically pushed aside or treated as ‘lower’ than Western forms of design. I look at indigenous practices, migration, labour, and the ways grief remains as history repeats itself. My research is both archival and personal – I often work intergenerationally and draw from my experiences as a South Asian Muslim woman living in London.

Influences and inspiration
Leaving my house and witnessing silver birch and beech trees swaying in the wind through the seasons. I'm constantly documenting asymmetry and symmetry in nature.

My friends, family and particularly the women around me, who have shaped my attention to detail and have always inspired me to be brave in my creative choices.

I’m inspired to uncover visual stories from underserved communities. Craft and working physically is inherently political because it requires slowness and heed to the development process. Working for over six years in the mehndi industry taught me a particular kind of patience and creative directness that's often lost in today's digital space.

My training
I studied Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins. As it was mostly through Covid, it took a lot of self-directed learning to figure out what design means to me. My BA trained me to work on multiple projects at a time and be less of a perfectionist about initial concepts.

I took a gap year before my BA, where I met several people in the global majority and Muslim creative scene, who encouraged my creative zeal. This pushed me, giving me confidence in spaces that were rarely accessible or welcoming to people who look like me.

Favourite recent project
ਆਂਟੀ ਜੀ / آنٹی جی / AUNTY JI, written by M Zain Dada, directed by Milli Bhatia. The film is centred on the interior life of an elderly South Asian woman, a figure so often reduced to stereotypes in British narratives. “Aunty Ji is, ultimately, an invitation to sit with grief in all its distortion and darkness, and a reminder that hope can endure”, says Milli Bhatia. Surrealism is used to explore the immigrant experience of displacement, codeswitching, and the negotiation between survival and belonging.

I created the henna work for the film, applied with a faded effect to visually echo the grief and yearning at the film's core. Alongside Urdu poetry and imagery of the lote tree, the henna helped root the film in something ancestral.

A day in the life
I try to start my day slowly where I can, even if it's just a walk before I sit down to work, noticing the trees, the light, whatever small detail catches my eye. It grounds me before I move into anything more demanding. My hands are rarely idle; I'll go from drawing or painting in the morning to sitting with a screen in the afternoon.

A day sometimes means working with my hands for up to 13 hours, daydreaming about creative ideas, working on commercial projects and doing personal admin. I try my best to socialise and create a barrier between my creative work and personal life. That boundary is often the hardest part; when you love what you do, it's easy to let it creep into every hour.

How I got here

Starting my creative journey
Starting out, there was a mental shift I had to make to solidify myself as an artist and feel worthy of what I do. Imposter syndrome is very real, but finding your own creative voice and channeling what feels most authentic to you will always feel better in the long run. I found the instability and lack of direction difficult at first, but now that I know the industry a bit better, I feel so much more comfortable releasing the pressure of ‘doing well’. No one needs to invite you into a world; you already belong there.

Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
Fortunately, a lot of my first clients came to me. I had already built a micro-platform, which was enough for my work to be noticed – a real blessing. Social media, particularly Instagram, is where I found an audience and received commissions and bookings.

Biggest challenges along the way
Not just feeling, but really being made to feel like the only Muslim in the room at times.

Finding an entry-level role is proving more and more difficult, whichever industry you're in. I think I’ve found it particularly difficult because my style is quite niche; the themes I focus on aren't always easy to commercialise. Finding the right fit has taken time and patience.

My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
Social media is a curated version of oneself, and sometimes we focus too much on that creation of self. We stop creating freely and start creating for a perceived audience instead. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to perform the work. An audience recognises authenticity, so be yourself and post things you'd enjoy looking at or reading about. I've never had much of an agenda or a strategy with social media; I've always just had an urge to share the things I make.

Three things I've found useful in my career:

Courses, programmes, initiatives, access schemes or job boards I've found helpful:

My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:
At the beginning, be willing to make a few sacrifices, but don't overdo it. You may have to take on some free work, or work for less than you'd hoped, but that early groundwork can genuinely pave the way to paid opportunities later on.

Protect yourself: have contracts in place, get your invoices out promptly and try to receive at least half your fee before you begin any work. I really encourage having some part-time, stable work alongside your practice; it takes the financial pressure off, keeps you occupied and gives you something to fall back on, which is good for your mental health too.

Making money from your work has always been a double-edged sword. It doesn't necessarily strengthen your practice, but it commits numbers and a price to your talent, skill or design intuition. I've never been entirely comfortable or "good" at the pricing part of my practice. I find it's quite an unnatural part of the process, and it’s not where I choose to focus my energy. I fought for some form of steady income and stability, but other than that, I don't believe I need every opportunity or every project.

My advice

My most useful career tips
Remember to take breaks – you don't have to say yes to every opportunity. Design can be tedious and slow, so learn to prioritise your tasks early and train yourself out of perfectionism; it'll save you a lot of time and frustration down the line.

Find a community to connect with: things are always easier when you have people to turn to. Try not to think of other designers or artists as competition; figure out what you can learn from each other and encourage one another instead. Don't be afraid to network in a slow, less intentional way, building relationships because they're genuine, not because you have an agenda. The people who've mattered most in my career came from real conversations and shared interests; that kind of connection tends to last far longer than anything transactional.

What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
Get used to waiting and rejection. If you want it enough, put in the work; if it's genuinely right for you, it will come. In the meantime, keep working on your own projects to keep your skills sharp, stay inspired, and build a range of work for your portfolio. Make sure your portfolio reflects the kind of role you're going for; don't be afraid to create briefs for yourself if you don't have the real-world experience yet.