Drawing on Heritage: Maryam Adam

Final set of postcards by Maryam Adam

Earlier this summer, Rabbits Road Press commissioned four local artists to develop a set of risograph printed cards celebrating any aspect of Newham’s heritage that spoke to them. Supported by Newham Heritage Month, the project, Drawing on Heritage, was inspired by the work of celebrated local artist Magde Gill (1882-1961) who created many drawings on postcards. As part of their artist residency, each of the commissioned artists, Amandine Forest-Aguié, Maryam Huq, Jo Wood, and Maryam Adam, spent one month visiting sites, doing research and learning about risograph printing. In this Drawing on Heritage blog series, each artist shares their residency experience. Join us for our Drawing on Heritage: Postcard Launch event which will be part of Newham Heritage Month this September 2025. The event will take place at Rabbits Road Press on Saturday September 27th 4-7pm, it’s free to attend but booking is required. Book your free place here. 

Artist Biography: Maryam Adam

Maryam Adam is an interdisciplinary artist, illustrator, and designer with a BA in Graphic Communication Design. Her work explores themes of heritage, introspection, and the connection between the conscious and unconscious. Community engagement is central to her practice, and she values the relationships formed with audiences through her concepts. Often incorporating surrealist imagery, her work addresses social politics, faith, and existence. Her practice visually reflects the Gujarati/interlingual word "naram" (soft, gentle), even when addressing more subversive themes. 

Maryam's mediums span digital and traditional illustration, including animation, oil painting, henna, textiles and typography. Her practice is grounded in a research-led and nature-guided approach where patterns emerge through observation. Every element, from image to type, carries an illustrative sensibility. She is most fulfilled when immersed in the making process.

Residency Reflection by Maryam Adam

Green Street the day before Eid, alive with noise and mehndi. Saturday morning stalls setting up at the Forest Gate Festival. Romford Road’s endless traffic. Spice Hut after school if I was lucky. Wandering Stratford Centre. The monkey swings in Wanstead Park. Men gathering in crisp thobes after Friday prayers at Upton Lane mosque. Angie’s stock shop for last-minute biscuits. These small moments, stitched together, represent my 26 years in and around Newham. They are the backdrop of my life and the lens through which I approached this residency. This was my first ever artist residency, and it felt especially meaningful to do it here, in the borough where I was born and raised. This residency offered something different: space and time to develop ideas more slowly and reflectively. I had never worked with RRP either, though I’d admired them from afar. Their attention to activism and social justice felt aligned with my practice and It also meant exploring Newham's heritage in a way I hadn’t done before. I was especially looking forward to risograph printing, a process I’d never tried, learning more about the work and life of the phenomenally vulnerable artist Madge Gill, and to work with some amazing artists from the local community.

Newham archives

At the start of the residency, I set myself a clear intention. As someone raised in Newham, I wanted to explore the shopfronts of early POC-owned businesses. These customer-facing spaces were among the first visible signs of migration and cultural presence in the borough. Long before “multicultural Newham” was celebrated, there were individuals and families taking risks, facing racism, and building spaces that would become hubs of community life.

Visiting the Newham Archives at Stratford Library was an early highlight. I went in hoping to uncover stories of POC business owners and community networks, but the team admitted not much of that history exists. That gap itself says a lot. Too often, the histories of people of colour are overwritten or not preserved at all. What survives often begins after the 1970s, so earlier experiences remain undocumented. It was a privilege to see these archives, and difficult to tear myself away, I wanted to look at everything!I focused on markets and shopfronts and found a handful of photographs that resonated. One in particular, AMBA News, leapt out at me, it felt familiar. Later, when I showed my mum the photos, she remembered them too, connecting those images to her own lived experience around Forest Gate. My sisters grew up around those same streets, so it was fascinating to bridge that gap between archival research and family memory.

Image from Newham Archives

Alongside the archive, we explored the work of Madge Gill, whose photographs and drawings left a strong impression on me. What stood out was the tenacity you clearly see in her work: the way she worked endlessly, layering marks without trying to be perfect. The idea of being guided by a spirit was interesting too; while her relationship to spirituality was very unique and interwoven with her mental wellbeing, the notion of creating through faith in something unseen did pique my interest. I was struck, too, by her refusal to commercialise her work at times, she even rejected Whitechapel Gallery’s offers, choosing instead to stay loyal to the spirit she felt compelled by. I wanted to carry forward her willingness to create imperfectly and continuously, into my own work.

Madge Gill postcards from Newham Archives

Our risograph sessions were where these ideas became physical. I’d played with digital riso effects before, layering colours and opacity, but never the real process. It was freeing to sit with scissors and paper after years of mostly digital work. I stuck to collage for its sharp outlines and symmetry, cutting shapes postcard-sized and using negative space for form. Working with two colours felt easier than three, though it still took some calculation to make the layers interesting. What I loved most was doing it alongside other artists, seeing our postcards print out, all different yet connected, was refreshing.

Risograph printing workshop at Rabbits Road press

The visit to the William Morris Gallery added another layer. Morris’s belief that “everyone should have access to beautiful things” struck me as a principle that still feels radical today. Like Gill, he drewendlessly from nature, and that connection resonated with me too. For me, nature is always a reminder of God’s existence so I made sure to include an element in the final postcards. I experimented with drawing directly for risograph using pencil, but I quickly realised I preferred collage. Pencil marks require heavy pressure to translate, and the colours lacked the intensity I wanted. Still, working with three layers of colour was an interesting challenge, and it reinforced for me the importance of letting go of perfection.

william morris gallery and risograph prints

For my final project, I returned to the shopfronts. I researched and collaged images of AMBA News on Green Street, Queens Market, Wenty’s Tropical Foods, an upholsterer on Upton Lane, Supafresh, and Bondor Bazaar. I combined old shopfronts with contemporary photos, overlaying them with natural elements. I chose intense, culturally resonant colours, orange, pink, green, that reflect the vibrancy of Newham’s communities. Collage-ing proved to be as labour-intensive as drawing, and as I was doing it, I wanted to draw on them too, but I felt like I had to stick to my plan.

Photos of high street shops

This residency made me reflect not only on content but also on process. Doing multiple projects at once has always been a strength of mine, but lately I’ve been reassessing my relationship with artistic labour. Too often, making money from my practice feels like selling my hands. This residency reminded me of another way of working, focusing on process rather than outcome. It gave me time to think, to connect with overlooked histories, to be inspired by artists like Madge Gill, and to rediscover the joy of making with my hands. It also deepened my relationship with Newham, the place I call home, and reminded me why I make art: to hold onto stories and to create beauty that belongs to everyone.

Final set of postcards by Maryam Adam