Soraya Sikander

This resulted in a huge panel, oil on board, nearly 5 by 8 feet, in size that portrayed Adam Smith, a symbol of capitalism, leading on to a vague, shadowy silhouette and ultimately resulting in a skull. The panel titled ‘The story of recession’ was described by art critics as "timely", "current", "expresses the situation" and "gives the whole picture" (Recession on canvas, Business Recorder 22 August 09) and further: "Remarkable… In a series of quick fire portraits she demonstrates the gradual visual regression of the father of capitalism from solid Teutonic traditionalism to the ultimate inevitable finale represented by the empty skull. The gradual falling off is not quite Hegelian, as no conflict is discernible in the dialectic, but a gradual corrosion of an icon" (Interpreting the recession, Dawn Gallery, 23 August 09).

In February 2010, a solo exhibition followed, titled 'A floral symphony'. The exhibition that debuted at Unicorn Gallery used flowers as a metaphor. The entire bodies of work produced for this exhibition consisted of oil on canvas paintings, and ink on paper drawings, inspired by the Japanese art of woodblock print, of which the artist had made a personal study, particularly the printsof Japanese Manga Masters. The artist's work is described as socio-political art."She deals with current issues. Her selection of theme is timely as before when she did a series of paintings titled ‘recession". This new approach of using the bright colours of nature as a messenger of non-violence was described as a "symbol of peace, promoting tolerance and non-violence in such volatile times.".

In early 2009, the artist began a project that depicted the state-of-the-world in a recession

By October 2009, for an exhibition at 'National Art Gallery of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Sikander used a series of elongated figurines painted in cubist style, to draw attention to deconstruction.

Born to an Indian Father and Pakistani Mother, Sikander spent her childhood traveling and residing in various countries, including parts of Europe. In 2008, she graduated from Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, and launched her career in a group show of Indian and Pakistani art, held in Dubai. In 2012 she went on to study at University College London Slade School of Fine Art's Summer School, followed by old masters style, classical academic training at the London Atelier of Representational Arts.