About
Yasmin Hayat (b. 1990) is a British-Syrian artist whose painting practice brings together the visual languages of Arabic manuscript illumination, Indo-Persian miniature painting, and Western art traditions. Working between historical modes of image-making and contemporary painting, Hayat explores material, memory, place, and the transmission of cultural knowledge.
She studied at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, before specialising at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, where she graduated with distinction in Geometry and Miniature (Manuscript) Painting. Her practice is rooted in the study of geometry, ornament, proportion, and the techniques of historic manuscript painting, which she reinterprets through a contemporary visual language.
A defining element of Hayat’s practice is her approach to colour. She creates pigments by hand from minerals, plants, earths, and other raw materials sourced internationally, refining and preparing them specifically for each work. These pigments are integral to the paintings’ material and conceptual character, producing surfaces of exceptional depth and luminosity that respond to changing light and the viewer’s position.
Hayat’s work considers how inherited visual traditions can remain vital within contemporary culture. Rather than treating the manuscript tradition as a historical artefact, she approaches it as a living language through which questions of identity, continuity, displacement, and belonging can be explored.
In 2018, Hayat received the Kairos Prize from His Majesty King Charles III and Professor Keith Critchlow for her contribution to the preservation and renewal of traditional art forms. Her work is held in the permanent public collections of the Aga Khan Gallery, London, and Sarmaya Arts Foundation.
Hayat has exhibited in London, New York, and New Delhi, including at Jonathan Cooper Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, Ojas Art, and the Aga Khan Gallery. Her work has been featured in publications including Thames & Hudson, Arab News, Veranda, and Homes & Gardens.
She lives and works in London.
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