Rooted in the tradition of Persian and Mughal miniature painting, Maryam Baniasadi’s work explores the evolving relationship between place, time, and memory. With a deep interest in observation and detail, she documents the vibrant rhythms of the cities where she has lived—their streets, courtyards, and communal spaces—capturing the fleeting moments that shape the fabric of contemporary urban life.

Like the court painters of the past, who chronicled both the grand and the ordinary, Baniasadi sees her practice as a historical record of a city in motion. Positioned as an outsider, she is drawn to details that might otherwise be overlooked—small gestures, quiet interactions, and the fluidity of daily routines. Her vantage point allows her to observe the extraordinary within the seemingly mundane, creating compositions where multiple narratives unfold at once.

Time does not move in a linear fashion in her work; instead, she embraces the miniature tradition of simultaneous storytelling, allowing past and present to intersect within a single frame. She merges Persian aesthetics with contemporary subject matter, weaving together traditional techniques with the realities of urban life in Lahore. In doing so, she reflects on the ways in which modernity and heritage are entangled—how the old is embedded in the new, and how the rhythm of the city continues even as time seems to pass unnoticed.

Through her practice, she seeks to extend the legacy of miniature painting, not as a relic of the past, but as a living, adaptive medium—one that continues to evolve.