We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Saya a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Saya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

Ideas can come from different resources, internal or external, or both. Nature and my surroundings are my great inspirations, but I add my own interpretation to what I like to create. I don’t do sketches, maybe a very basic idea of what colors or forms I want to include. I continue with an intuitive, in-the-moment flow, which sometimes differs from what I had in mind. I don’t resist and let it happen

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I showed interest in fine art from my middle school years. I carried through the collage, then the graphic design business, and became a fine art mixed-media artist. My pieces are mixed media, mostly paper, and I shape them and add them to the canvas. Handmade colors from botanicals, minerals, and pigments. Eco-printed scarves and pressed flowers

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My work creates a space of hope, expansion, light, and energy through an intuitive use of color, texture, and material. Each piece often originates from a center and gradually expands outward, or reveals elements that remain connected to a shared core. This center may be interpreted as the sun, a source of light, hope, or an energetic system—both personal and universal.
Repetition is fundamental to my practice. I fold small pieces of paper and place them side by side, adding each element slowly over time. Individually, these gestures are quiet and unassuming, but together they form something expansive and resonant. Through accumulation—tiny folds, subtle dots of color, layered surfaces—a larger, more meaningful image emerges. This process mirrors life itself: small, deliberate steps that, over time, lead toward growth, transformation, and connection. My work with paper becomes a vessel for memory and time, carefully held and preserved.
Texture plays a central role in my work. I view texture as a form of sensory intelligence—one that invites the sense of touch, even when touch is not possible. Through the physical presence of layered paper, folds, and surfaces, the work engages the body as much as the eye. Color and texture together activate multiple senses, creating a living, tactile experience that encourages closeness, curiosity, and awareness.
An important aspect of my practice is the creation of handmade colors using botanicals, minerals, and discovered pigments. I also produce my own papers for select works, using kozo and mulberry tree bark to explore texture, translucency, and surface. These materials carry their own histories, grounding the work in nature and process.
I invite the viewer to slow down and spend time with the work—to sense its layers, rhythms, and quiet energy. The repetition and texture encourage contemplation, offering a space for reflection, calm, and renewal. Protected under museum glass for archival purposes, the works are intended to endure—holding light, time, and memory for the viewer to encounter again and again.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started my graphic design in 2001, and for about 12 years, I did it alongside my fine art work. In the year 2013, I decided to just do my fine art and quiet my graphic design work. It was a very hard decision to make. I built the business for over 10 years, and saying goodbye to it was not easy. But I had to move more seriously with what was the source of all my passions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sbehnam.com
• Instagram: @sayabehnam
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sayabehnam

Image Credits

Sun ( over 1000 papers folded on canvas ) Saya Behnam
Turquoise ( over 1000 papers folded on canvas ) Saya Behnam
Blue meditation ( over 1000 papers folded on canvas ) Saya Behnam
Red ( over 1000 papers folded on canvas ) Saya Behnam
Fall ( over 1000 papers folded on canvas ) Saya Behnam