Much of Maple's inspiration originates from being brought up as a Muslim, with parents of mixed religious and cultural backgrounds. Blurring the lines between popular culture and religious devotion in an unfailingly mischievous manner, Sarah's aesthetic narrative urges the viewer to challenge traditional notions of religion, identity and the societal role of women. Maple's work often takes on fabricated scenes and situations. She is affected by the art world, as well as from her general surroundings; including friends, family, the media and popular culture. Her work is greatly inspired by politics, comedy and literature. She believes these influences are truly woven into her art and provide the platform upon which her work is realised. Maple states that the aim of her work is 'to give my audience food for thought. I believe comedy is a great tool to achieve this, which is why I choose to portray my conceptual ideas through a light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek approach'.
Awards
In 2007 she won the "4 New Sensations" competition, run by Channel 4 in conjunction with the Saatchi Gallery. The competition's aim is "to find the most exciting and imaginative artistic talent in the UK" from among art students graduating that year. In 2015 she won a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship to produce a new body of work for a new solo exhibition in 2017 Maple has exhibited her work at galleries and institutions such as Tate Britain, The New Art Exchange, Golden Thread Gallery and Kunstihoone Tallinn In 2015 she released her first book 'You Could Have Done This', a hardback art book of selected works with contributions from Beverley Knowles, Margaret Harrison, Oreet Ashery and Anne Swartz
Recent exhibitions have been held in Munich, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Milan, London and Paris. "It's a Girl" was held at London's Aubin Gallery in February 2012. Lately Sarah Maple was included in the group show "Highlight" along with works by Alicja Kwade, Tomás Saraceno and Jorinde Voigt at Salon Kennedy in Frankfurt in line with 7th Luminale 2014. In 2018, she is projected to have an exhibition in the Ukrainian Institution Of Modern Art, titled "Reinterpreting Religion," being set to run from the 1st of June to the 1st of July.
