Marya Bakhsh
Visual Artist

Marya Y. Bakhsh is an emerging Saudi visual artist and art educator with a solid background in concept art. She draws inspiration from daily surroundings and social matters with a keen eye for aesthetics. Her oriental concepts ranging from realistic to surrealistic highlighting analog, polarities, and contrasting values via the traditional forms of fine art: painting, drawing, and sculpture. Marya’s background in Graphic Design helped her to gain interest in experimenting around smart simple executions concealing profound sharp concepts behind it, to fully detail-oriented artworks. Marya is drawn to human behavior and psychology, finding in everyday moments avenues to portray human emotions. Questions about contemporary life and the relationship between our inner and outer world are at the core of her work. The exploration of dualities in her work is influenced by the rich traditions and humanities that shape our understanding of the world.

Marya’s work has been exhibited in some of the most significant art venues in Saudi Arabia, including Sarmd Exhibition, Shashai Studio (Jax District, Riyadh) as part of Downtown Design Week’s events, and the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Arts Hall Exhibition: Summer 2025, by Misk Art Institute, in Riyadh.

Marya received her MFA in Visual Development for 2D and 3D Animation from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2015, and her BFA in Graphic Design from Dar Al-Hekma University in Jeddah in 2010. She was accepted into the Tuwaiq Sculpture Apprenticeship Program in Riyadh in 2025. Additionally, she was an artist-in-residence with Misk Art Institute’s Painting Residency Program in Riyadh in 2024.