Sarira Merikhi (Iranian, b. 1999) is a visual artist who reworks Persian mythology and history into lithograph-style digital prints inspired by pop art.,Born in Tehran and trained in graphic design at Al-Zahra University,she draws heavily on Ferdowsi's epic poem Shahnameh, layering ancient Persian imagery with the bold, ironic style of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.,
Her father, a cartoonist, and her mother, an interior designer, immersed her in ancient Iranian art from an early age, and she credits her father especially with shaping her artistic direction. She created her first exhibited illustration, a portrait of the Shah's wife, at age five, and it won an award at that year's show. Because protest art is heavily restricted in Iran, she often encodes her commentary in symbolism dense enough to obscure a direct reading, reserving more overt, blood-red imagery for pieces marking violent events such as public executions.
In The Seven Labors, she reimagines the Haft Khan, the seven trials of the hero Rostam from the Shahnameh, translating Ferdowsi's centuries-old narrative into her own visual language.“Execution in public, which is still happening in Iran”, she wrote of one piece, describing the crowd's mix of indifference and curiosity as they watch.In VoluMania, she explores how exaggerating volume and scale can give forgotten or diminished stories new weight and presence.
In Freedom Forge, minted July 28, 2025 as the 386th release in 6529's The Memes collection in an edition of 310, she pictures a decentralized future where sovereignty is claimed rather than granted and the absurdities of crypto culture become both battleground and playground.
