Bio
Sahra Hersi is an artist and designer trained in architecture. Working across public space, objects and print, she explores the relationship between people and place.
Her work begins by spending time in a place: speaking with people, exploring archives and collections, and paying attention to the materials, symbols and traditions that give a place its identity. These conversations and discoveries become the starting point for each project, allowing the form to emerge through the research rather than being decided in advance.
Hersi has produced a number of site-specific public realm projects, alongside installations, publications, workshops and objects. Whatever the form, the aim is the same: to make familiar places feel newly seen, and more welcoming to the people who share them.
info@sahrahersi.net
@Sahra_Hersi
Select Clients
Arts Catalyst
Cement Fields
Company Drinks
Concéntrico
Design Museum
London Legacy Development Corporation
Mountford Growing Community
Newham Council
Peer Gallery
British Council
Redbridge Council
SPACE Studios
Studio Voltaire
TACO!
The Mosaic Rooms
The Women's Museum
UP Projects
V&A East
V&A South Kensington
Waltham Forest Council
Wellcome Collection
PressVoices Centre Stage: an interview with artist Sahra Hersi, British Council Spain, May 2026
STIRworld, "Sahra Hersi on the charms and challenges of participatory public design," May 2026
ACV Magazine, Issue 03, "INBETWEEN," 2026
V&A Magazine, "No Place Like Home," Issue 56, Winter 2021
Exhibitions
A Tapestry for Anglesey Future Observatory: Tools for Transition (group exhibition) Curated by Future Observatory, Design Museum, London 2025 to 2026
Sahra Hersi Selects V&A East Museum, London, 2026
Home Making Arts Catalyst, Sheffield, 2025
Tender Women Women's Museum, London, 2025
Earth, Memory, and the Spaces We Inhabit (group exhibition) Presented by Black Females in Architecture (BFA), part of London Festival of Architecture NOW Gallery, London, 2025
Talks The Architecture of Belonging: In-Between, panel with Jim Stephenson, Adam Kaasa and Manijeh Verghese, chaired by Samta Nadeem, STIR x Roca Gallery London, in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture, 2026
In conversation with Javier Peña Ibañez on Concéntrico, Instituto Cervantes London, London Design Festival, 2025
Design Discussion talks series, Design London Shoreditch (House of ICON), London Design Festival, 2025
A Right to Feel Safe: Amplifying the Voices of Women, Girls and LGBTQI+ Communities in Public Space, UP Projects (online), 2025
Designing for Community Resilience, panel with Rose Gibbs, Arman Nouri and Neba Sere, Global Design Forum, London Design Festival, V&A, 2024
Collaborative Models, panel discussion and workshop, Architectural Association, 2024
Radical Publications, Art Chats in response to Rasheed Araeen: Zero to Infinity, with Rose Nordin, hosted by Amrita Dhallu, Tate Modern Lates, 2024
CIVIC, Quinzena'21, Atelier Mob (online), with Genomic Gastronomy and Colectivo Warehouse, 2021
Lessons from Failure, Deptford X. An artist talk on professional failure and social practice, for people interested in art in the public realm, 2020
Culinary Cultures: Cooking in a Hackney Estate, panel with Fozia Ismail, Jojo Tulloh and Dr Mukta Das, chaired by Rose Gibbs, Tate Modern, 2019
EducationMA Architecture, Royal College of Art, 2014 to 2016
BA Architecture, London Metropolitan University, 2007 to 2011
Art and Design Foundation, Newham College, 2006 to 2007
Teaching
Lecturer, BA (Hons) Design, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2020 - Present
Annual guest lecture on professional practice, Architecture MSci, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, 2020 to present
Lecturer, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University for the Creative Arts, 2022-2023
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