A Moment of Grace: Sara Riaz Khan

Riwaq Showcase

There are experiences that change the way we see the world and, sometimes, the way we see ourselves. For Oman-based visual abstract artist Sara Riaz Khan, perspective is shaped by place, time, personal experience, and the process of making art.

Through her multi-layered oil paintings, Sara explores the relationship between emotion, memory, and the natural world. In this Riwaq Showcase, we look at her artistic journey, the experiences that shaped her practice, and the story behind A Moment of Grace (2010).

Meet Sara

Sara Riaz Khan is a visual abstract artist, educator, and author based in Oman. Her layered oil paintings draw from personal and universal human experiences, as well as her connection with nature.

Having begun her journey in Pakistan and later lived and studied in London before moving to Muscat, Sara has developed an artistic practice rooted in reflection and self-understanding. She has exhibited in Oman, Pakistan, London, and Dubai, while also working as an International Baccalaureate art and design educator and school artist-in-residence.

Behind her exhibitions and years of teaching is an artist whose work remains closely connected to the way she experiences life.

Seeing Through Perspective

For Sara, perspective is a flexible lens shaped by identity, time, and experience. Moving from London to Muscat brought her greater peace of mind and supported her commitment to art.

Her 2022 series Even When I Thought I Knew reflects her belief that understanding often develops through time and distance. As her perspective has evolved, she describes becoming more open and less judgmental, allowing her to connect with others while maintaining her individuality.

When Life Enters the Canvas

Sara’s childhood, surrounded by art and nature, played an important role in shaping her creative approach. However, a family crisis in 2007 became a significant turning point in her practice.

Seeking a way to express her emotions without directly illustrating the experience, she turned to abstraction. What began as an experiment became a new artistic language, giving her space to explore feelings that could not easily be expressed through realistic forms.

Finding Another Language

A Moment of Grace (2010) is a series of 35 oil paintings created over the course of a year. Through techniques including printing, staining, dripping, and layering, Sara explored colour, texture, light, and darkness.

The paintings developed into emotional landscapes, reflecting inner conflict alongside elements of the natural world. Rather than explaining a specific event, the series communicates something of what the experience felt like.

The Visible and the Invisible

Years after completing the series, Sara came across artist Richard Tuttle’s idea of art as an account of both visible and invisible worlds. Although the quote did not inspire the work at the time, it offered a perspective through which she could later reflect on the series and what exists beneath the surface of a painting.

The works hold darkness and light, questions and gratitude. They reflect an experience in which something deeply precious came close to being lost but was ultimately saved, allowing these seemingly contrasting emotions to exist together.

The Work: A Moment of Grace

The first painting Sara submitted to Riwaq from the series is a multi-layered oil and gesso work on canvas.

Through its contrasting colours, textures, and forms, the painting explores heaviness, hope, and gratitude. As Sara describes it, the work “asks questions but also gives thanks.”

The painting does not attempt to erase difficult experiences. Instead, it holds both the difficult and the hopeful, creating space for reflection and emotional complexity.

Choosing Which Way to Turn

After completing the series, Sara reflected on the relationship between darkness and hope:

“Light cannot banish the dark, there is no easy victory, but one can always choose which way to turn.”

These words capture an idea that runs throughout her artistic practice. For Sara, choosing hope does not mean ignoring difficulty, but recognising that darkness does not have to become the only thing we see.

Her experiences shaped her art, while the process of making art also shaped her perspective in return. As she describes it, life shapes our art, and art can shape our lives.

Art as a Way of Looking

A Moment of Grace (2010) extends beyond documenting a difficult period in Sara’s life. It explores how we carry experiences, understand them over time, and make space for uncertainty and hope.

Through painting, Sara turns her attention inward, allowing questions to exist without immediate answers. Her work reminds us that perspective is not always about finding one definitive way of seeing, but about allowing ourselves to hold more than one truth at a time.

Sometimes, it is simply about choosing which way to turn.

About the Artist

Sara Riaz Khan is a visual abstract artist, educator, and author based in Oman. Her multi-layered oil paintings draw from personal and universal human experiences and her connection with the natural world.

She has exhibited in Oman, Pakistan, London, and Dubai, and has worked as an International Baccalaureate art and design educator and school artist-in-residence.

Her work and writing have appeared in arts and educational publications, and she was recently invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London.

Instagram: @sarariazkhan