Soraya Syed

Syed produced a holographic and 3D digital installation entitled Pen and the Sword in response to a commission by Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, as part of their Bradford Museums and Galleries International Art Collection, 2015.

Syed's solo show, entitled Hurriyah or 'Freedom' at Leighton House Museum in London in 2013, received support from the Arts Council England.

Syed moved to London in 2006 and lives with her husband and children there.

In 2005, she was awarded the icazetname or authoritative calligraphy licence by IRCICA (International Research Centre for Islamic History, Culture and Art). At the time, she was the first and only Briton to have received the license.

Syed graduated in 1995 from the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London, and went on to read Arabic and History of Art & Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, from which she graduated in 1999. In 2001, Syed graduated from the Masters programme in Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts at The Prince's School, London.

Soraya Syed Sanders (born 1976) is an English classically trained Islamic calligrapher and artist. She uses classical Arabic calligraphy with new technologies such as holography, placing a traditional art-form into contemporary context.

Soraya Syed was born in London in 1976. She is of mixed Pakistani-French origin. Her Muslim father, who was born in Kenya and whose family originated from Pakistan, came to live and work in the UK in the 1960s. Her French Catholic mother moved from Paris to London in 1970s, where the two met. Syed received a liberal upbringing that straddled these two different religions and cultures.