Mesmerising mandalas and multicultural community – Museum of Brisbane announces multidisciplinary artist Sara Nejad as 2025 Artist in Residence
Museum of Brisbane is launching its 2025 Artist in Residence program with a bang, starting with a 12-month residency from multidisciplinary artist and art teacher Sara Nejad. Sara’s residency aims to highlight the beauty of Brisbane as a multicultural city, engage with local communities and harness the mandala as a motif to explore themes of identity and belonging.
Mandalas are geometric designs which hold deep spiritual and ritual symbolism across many cultures and religions. Sara is drawn to the resonance mandalas hold across diverse spiritualities, their personal significance in her life, and their rich history in Persian art and architecture. Working across mixed-media, painting, pyrography, installation and video, Sara draws from her personal experiences of living in transition and weaves issues of place, memory and emotional conflicts into her artworks.
As part of her residency, Sara Nejad will engage with local communities through a series of workshops wherein participants will be invited to collaborate with Sara to create a series of contemporary mandalas. Over several months, these collaborative works will be added to and displayed in the Museum of Brisbane as an unfolding installation. This new body of work will reflect the shared stories and diverse voices of Brisbane’s communities, embodying the city’s vibrant multicultural spirit and encouraging us to stand together in our differences.
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Museum visitors can see the community project take shape as it weaves its way through Museum of Brisbane throughout 2025. Learn more about Sara’s residency at the Museum of Brisbane website.
This article was written in partnership with our friends at Museum of Brisbane.