Art has been an important part of Soraya Sikander’s life from a young age and that early passion to create has turned into a flourishing career as a world-class painter.
Today, the leading contemporary artist known for her landscapes and organic forms has made a name internationally with multiple exhibitions, which recently included being a part of the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale. She is also renowned for her pioneering calligraphy landscapes and has a rapidly growing list of collectors snapping up her work.
Eastern Eye got Soraya Sikander to tell us about her life in art.
My earliest memory connected to art is…spending my childhood travelling to different countries and spending all my time painting the sea. This is how I became a painter of landscapes, seascape, flowers and nature. Art just came naturally to me. Whenever I saw something like a landscape, it would leave an impact, and I just had to document it on canvas in my own style.
The first artists I became a fan of are…the Manga masters, who were ahead of their time with perfect illustrations. I became a collector of Japanese woodblock prints by Manga masters such as Katsushika Hokusai and Hiroshige, and learned a lot from their work. French impressionists Monet, Manet, Cezanne and Degas were all deeply inspired by Japanese woodblocks.
The first pieces of art I created were…sketching trees, valleys, lakes, landscapes and animals at school. I would sit at the back of the class and sketch away!
A childhood memory connected to art…is discarding my drawings, only to later find my teachers had pasted these on the school board! Other times, peers would collect my sketches and take them home or hang them in their lockers!
I wanted to pursue art as a career… because it just came to me naturally. Call it destiny. My teachers used to say it chose you!
I wanted to explore drawing as well as paint like classical art masters…so started studying traditional painting. I experimented at UCL’s Slade summer school in London, but found the work being produced there too conceptual. Meanwhile, in Pakistan they were practising the centuries old technique of miniature. Luckily, I found the London Atelier of Representational Arts (LARA), where I studied and observed live models and perfected my skills.
I realised drawing and painting are…ultimately internal processes, deeply personal and spanning over a lifetime. I can say with certainty now that art studying is a life-long process based on practice.
A memorable exhibition I went to see…was the Vincent Van Gogh retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. The collection had come from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the work was electrifying! Rich in paints, luminescent, vivid, loud and colourful, the paintings spoke. This may explain the artworks popularity and relevance even till today.
Happy memories connected to art…is the creation! Every time I create a work of art, explore new ways to paint and the happy accidents that happen in my studio give me a lot of satisfaction. Painting has the ability to surprise the artist just as much as the viewer. As I paint nature, my work captures the complexities of development.
I have suffered for my art…and don’t regret it. There was a time I almost drowned because I was painting a seascape and to catch a better view I kept walking into the sea.
An early professional memory as an artist is…when an art collector saw me painting Christ On The Cross in a room in Unicorn Gallery and said ‘just tell me the price’. He instantly wanted to buy it. No negotiation, nothing! I must have been 17-year-old, just painting in a room, and this collector whilst looking around the gallery saw me.
My first exhibition was…A Floral Symphony on February 20, 2010. It was a solo exhibition at Unicorn Gallery, Karachi. The exhibition pieces sold out 100 per cent within an hour of its opening. Talk around town was she is the ‘best emerging artist’, and I was dubbed an ‘artist to collect’.
That first exhibition…came as a wonderful surprise as very little planning or preparation went into my show. It was just me as a young, wide-eyed, largely self-taught artist creating original work I believed in. The positive reviews have not stopped pouring in since then, which makes me work harder.
Memorable moments as a professional artist…are connected to museums I have exhibited in, including the National Art Museum of China where I have shown twice. Also, the National Museum of Dhaka, the National Art Museum of Ras Al Khaimah, Beijing Biennale, top European galleries, including Galeries Patries Van Dorst in Netherlands, Unicorn Gallery (Karachi and Lahore) and more. Each show has been memorable and I got to travel for my art!
Memorable encounters connected to art…are many, including painting with living master artist Bill Zhao in Beijing city, China, which was an honour! It’s not every day that a contemporary artist paints side-by-side with a master! Bill saw my work and completely trusted me. He saw my portfolio and trusted my judgment, allowing me to take our painting Nebula Cosmos in any direction. It was a quite a moment in Asian art history! It was the first collaboration of its kind between a sub-continental artist and a Chinese one.
The recent Beijing Biennale experience was...incredible. Having my work become popular amongst the Chinese public, who were having their photos taken next to me and recognising me at restaurants in China was joyous. This is my second exhibition there and the popularity I experienced, as well as the love and warmth, is a memory I shall cherish.
I am currently working on…a new seascape painting as well as an enormous landscape painting of Jebel Jais Mountains in Ras Al Khaimah. The new pieces reference the city’s actual sites, but only keeping them as a starting point. It is my interpretation of what I see and how I experience it.
Art is important because…it has the ability to humanise us. It tells us the secret of the cosmos. Great art serves as a gateway or a portal between our world and another, telling stories about our beginnings and ends. It takes us to the thresholds of eternity. A great work can transport us to another place and after experiencing that, we are never quite the same.
Eli Lilly had announced a steep price rise of up to 170% for Mounjaro.
A new discount deal with UK suppliers will limit the increase for patients.
Pharmacies will still apply a mark-up, but consumer costs are expected to rise less than initially feared.
NHS pricing remains unaffected due to separate arrangements.
Eli Lilly has agreed a discounted supply deal for its weight-loss drug Mounjaro, easing fears of a sharp rise in costs for UK patients. The new arrangement means that, from September, pharmacies and private services will face smaller wholesale increases than first expected, limiting the impact on consumers.
Why the price rise was announced
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said it would raise Mounjaro’s list price by as much as 170%, which could have pushed the highest monthly dose from £122 to £330. The company argued that UK pricing needed to align more closely with higher costs in Europe and the United States.
Discount deal for UK suppliers
The revised agreement will see the top-dose price set at £247.50 for suppliers. While pharmacies and private providers will still add their own margins, the increase for patients is now likely to remain under 50% for higher doses, and even lower for smaller doses.
Eli Lilly confirmed:
“We are working with private providers on commercial arrangements to maintain affordability and expect these to be passed onto patients when the change is effective on 1 September.”
Impact on consumers
Around 1.5 million people in the UK are currently on weight-loss drugs, with more than half using Mounjaro. Most of these patients—around 90%—pay privately through online services or high street pharmacies.
Prices vary between providers, depending on the level of lifestyle and dietary support offered alongside the injections.
Olivier Picard of the National Pharmacy Association said:
“This rebate will mitigate some of the impact of the increase, but patients should still anticipate seeing a rise in prices from 1 September.”
NHS pricing unchanged
The deal does not affect the NHS, which has secured its own heavily-discounted price for patients prescribed the weekly injection.
Mounjaro works by helping patients feel fuller for longer, reducing food intake and supporting weight loss of up to 20% of body weight.
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The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. (Representational image: iStock)
CHILDREN in England will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine for the first time from January 2026, the government has announced.
GP practices will give eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule. Around half a million children each year are expected to be protected.
The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. Research estimates chickenpox in childhood leads to £24 million in lost income and productivity annually.
Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, said: “We’re giving parents the power to protect their children from chickenpox and its serious complications, while keeping them in nursery or the classroom where they belong and preventing parents from scrambling for childcare or having to miss work. This vaccine puts children’s health first and gives working families the support they deserve. As part of our Plan for Change, we want to give every child the best possible start in life, and this rollout will help to do exactly that.”
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Deputy Director of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Most parents probably consider chickenpox to be a common and mild illness, but for some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious, leading to hospital admission and tragically, while rare, it can be fatal. It is excellent news that from next January we will be introducing a vaccine to protect against chickenpox into the NHS routine childhood vaccination programme – helping prevent what is for most a nasty illness and for those who develop severe symptoms, it could be a life saver.”
Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said: “This is a hugely positive moment for families as the NHS gets ready to roll out a vaccine to protect children against chickenpox for the first time, adding to the arsenal of other routine jabs that safeguard against serious illness.”
The eligibility criteria will be set out in clinical guidance, and parents will be contacted by their GP surgery if their child is eligible.
WHEN broadcaster and journalist Naga Munchetty began speaking openly about her experiences with adenomyosis and debilitating menstrual pain, the response was overwhelming.
Emails and messages poured in from women who had endured years of dismissal, silence and shame when it came to their health. That outpouring became the driving force behind her new book, It’s Probably Nothing, which calls for women to be heard and to advocate for themselves in a medical system that has too often ignored them.
“For so long, so many women haven’t been listened to by the world of medicine,” Munchetty said. “I knew this from my own experience of not being given adequate pain relief, or waiting years for a diagnosis. My motivation was to help women and people who love women to advocate better for women’s health.”
The book blends Munchetty’s personal journey with the voices of other women who have faced similar struggles, alongside expert insights from medical professionals. Its purpose, she said, is clear: to empower people to fight for their health.
“We need to be unafraid of saying how we have been weakened by our symptoms,” the BBC presenter said.
“Too often, we try to keep afloat, keep our head above water, but we don’t want to seem weak. That needs to change.”
Munchetty’s candour is striking. She describes the shame of being told her excruciating periods were “just normal,” leaving her to feel weak and whiny for struggling.
“You might as well have told me people have heart attacks while I’m having a heart attack,” she said. “Debilitating pain is serious — it may not be lifelimiting, but it is life-impacting.”
Her determination to challenge that culture led to her giving evidence in parliament, contributing to what became a Women and Equalities Committee report, published in December 2024.
The report made headlines for its stark conclusion: medical misogyny exists.
For Munchetty, seeing that phrase in black and white was transformative. “It was almost self-affirming,” she said. “We now know it’s there, so we can challenge it. Women can say: I know my body, I know there’s not enough research, and I am entitled to push for answers.”
The parliamentary report went further than acknowledgement. It called for ring-fenced funding for women’s health hubs, better training for GPs, and greater investment in research into reproductive conditions like adenomyosis and endometriosis.
It highlighted how symptoms are routinely dismissed as “normal,” delaying diagnosis and disrupting women’s careers, education and daily lives. Munchetty wrote in her book — referencing the report — that medical misogyny is not about blaming individual doctors, but about challenging a system built on insufficient research into women’s bodies.
“It gives women the language and the confidence to not just be heard, but to insist on being taken seriously,” she wrote.
Her book also tackles the additional barriers faced by women from minority communities, who may be discouraged by stigma or embarrassment from speaking about menstruation or menopause. To them, Munchetty has a clear message: “You are so much more valuable than you realise. If you don’t prioritise your health, you are lessening your ability to hold up everyone around you.”
Those featured in the book are friends, colleagues, charities and everyday women who contributed their stories, many for the first time. “I was surprised at how many friends are in that book with such powerful experiences,” Munchetty said.
“It told me all the more that we’re not speaking about it, and that it is sadly so very common.”
At a launch event for the book, contributors, family and experts filled the room with what Munchetty describes as an “electric and inspiring atmosphere.”
She said, “It was full of joy, of women who felt safe to speak up and be heard. This is not a whiny book — it’s a positive book. People felt they were part of making things better, part of this women’s health revolution.”
For Munchetty, writing the book was exhausting, but transformative, she said.
“I never thought I’d be an author. I’m a journalist. But this is journalism — facilitating people’s stories to be told powerfully and truthfully. People trusted me, and I’m proud of that.”
And Munchetty’s aim is for the book to be a tool for change: arming women with the language, confidence and strategies to advocate for their health.
“It’s not easy to admit you need help, and it’s not instinctive for women to prioritise themselves,” she said. “But this book will help you do that. It’s the silent friend who has your back and gives you strength.”
It’s Probably Nothing - Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis is now available in all good bookshops
The Shree Kunj Bihari Vrindavan (UK) Temple has officially launched its project to establish a grand home for Shree Banke Bihari in London.
The inaugural event, held in Harrow from 4 pm, featured devotional chants, the Deep Pragtya ceremony, and a presentation outlining the temple’s vision. Speaking at the gathering, Shalini Bhargava described the planned temple as “a spiritual home promoting bhakti, unity and seva for generations to come.”
Several dignitaries were honoured at the ceremony, including Cllr Anjana Patel, Mayor of Harrow; Anuradha Pandey, Hindi and Cultural Attaché at the High Commission of India; Kamakshi Jani of the Royal Navy; Councillors Janet Mote, Nitin Parikh and Mina Parmar; Krishnaben Pujara, Chairperson of ALL UK; and Truptiben Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain.
Organisers said the launch marks the beginning of a new spiritual and cultural hub for London’s Hindu community, offering a centre for devotion, learning and community service.
Martin Dickie has announced his departure from BrewDog and the alcohol industry.
He co-founded the Ellon-based brewer with James Watt in 2007.
Dickie cited family time and personal reasons for his exit.
His departure follows recent bar closures as part of a company restructuring.
BrewDog confirmed no further leadership changes will follow.
BrewDog co-founder Martin Dickie has announced he is leaving the Scottish brewer and the wider alcohol industry for “personal reasons.” Dickie, who founded the Ellon-based business with James Watt in 2007, said he wanted to spend more time with his family after more than two decades in brewing and distilling.
Early beginnings
Dickie and Watt launched BrewDog at the age of 24, starting from a garage in Fraserburgh and selling hand-filled bottles from a van at local markets. The company grew rapidly to become one of the UK’s best-known craft brewers.
Leadership changes
James Watt stepped down as chief executive last year after 17 years in the role, moving into a non-executive position as “captain and co-founder.” Dickie’s exit marks another major shift in the company’s founding leadership.
Dickie’s statement
“Leaving BrewDog isn’t easy, but I’m ready to spend less time travelling and spend some more time at home with my young family,” Dickie said. He added: “It has been an honour to have worked with incredible, like-minded colleagues who live in a world of flavour and experimentation. In James Taylor and Lauren Carrol, BrewDog is in very strong hands and I will always remain a massive fan.”
Company response
BrewDog chief executive James Taylor praised Dickie’s contribution, highlighting his focus on product quality, workplace safety, sustainable supplier relationships, and new product development. “Martin’s contributions to BrewDog have been immeasurable,” Taylor said. “His creativity, passion, and relentless drive have shaped our company over the years and inspired countless others in the industry.”
Recent challenges
The announcement comes a month after BrewDog closed ten of its bars, including its flagship Aberdeen Gallowgate site and a Dundee outlet, citing commercial unviability. The company stressed that Dickie’s departure will not result in further leadership changes.