Syrian-Armenian artist Stephany Sanossian is using her platform to challenge misconceptions, preserve cultural memory and educate global audiences on the depth and humanity of the cultures that have shaped her. Through her vivid digital collages, Stephany shares layered narratives of Middle Eastern and Armenian identity, reframing stories that are often simplified or misunderstood by the rest of the world. Her work serves as a visual expression and a cultural metaphor, inviting viewers to look beyond headlines and stereotypes and to engage with lived experience, history, and emotion.

Blending heritage imagery with contemporary symbols, Stephany creates compositions that speak of belonging, displacement and continuity. Her art bridges East and West, offering a nuanced perspective rooted in her own personal memories. Her love for art is deeply shaped by childhood experiences and upbringing, combined with an instinctive pull towards creativity. “My work grows from memory, observation, and everyday life,” she says. “I’m inspired by objects, patterns, and systems that feel ordinary but carry emotional and cultural weight.” In her work, familiar symbols like butterflies, hearts, and skateboards serve as vessels for broader conversations about identity, belonging, and discipline. “I’m interested in how small details can reveal larger stories about identity, discipline, and belonging.”

Nostalgia plays a powerful role in her visual language, particularly memories of growing up in Syria. Local shops, heritage sites, and endless skylines serve as backdrops, layered with unexpected figures from cartoons, celebrities, and popular culture. On the surface, these juxtapositions appear deliberately mismatched, but closer examination reveals a layered, logical story. “Memory and belonging shape how we see ourselves and how we move through the world,” she explains. “They are not fixed ideas but layered and evolving.”

 “Collective memory is central to my practice,” she continues. “I’m fascinated by discipline and repetition, and by how a single motif can generate countless forms. When symbols come together, they disturb each other and create new meanings, much like cultures and people do.” Craft and tradition sit alongside contemporary imagery in Stephany’s work, forming a quiet but deliberate contrast. “My work exists in the tension between what we inherit and what we desire,” she reflects. This push and pull mirrors modern life, particularly within diasporic communities. “That contradiction reflects how we live today, carrying the past while constantly reshaping it.”

Now based in Dubai, Stephany does not tie her identity or practice to one place. Instead, her work acts as a language through which she interprets her inner world and lived experience. She is deeply invested in preserving and understanding culture and has spoken a lot about sharing messages of her home countries, particular Syria, with the West, shedding light on the reality of growing up in a country that has faced much displacement and turmoil. “I would love to see platforms that honour our cultural legends,” she says. “Culture is preserved through effort, storytelling, and care. There is depth and humanity that often gets overlooked.”

Honouring loved ones and previous generations is also something that’s deeply embedded in her process. “Everything is a continuation of those who came before us,” she explains. “My role is to carry their stories forward in an honest way.” As an artist today, she feels a clear sense of purpose. “I feel responsible for speaking truthfully about identity as layered and evolving.”

As a woman navigating the contemporary art world, she never turns off her curiosity. “When I’m not working in the studio, I’m still researching, observing, and attending galleries,” she says. It is this constant engagement with people, ideas and lived experience that keeps her work grounded, honest and deeply human.