Meet Rasa Ahly, the Sydney artist who paints entrepreneurial journeys

Meet Rasa Ahly, a Sydney-based artist who captures the essence of entrepreneurial spirit and journey in her paintings. 

The journey of a startup founder is layered like an onion. What we see from the outside is the success or failure of a business, but Ahly paints everything in between. 

From emotions to challenges, to thoughts and feelings, she’s tried to capture it all following the University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) startup community in November 2022. 

Being the owner of a small business years ago, Ahly says she’s quite passionate about the industry. 

“I am also passionate about the imagination, colour, and creativity of art,” she said.

“It seems few, if any, other artists have captured the entrepreneurial spirit, so I would like to combine my two greatest passions.”

Ahly believes that art is the best way to reflect life.  

“The life, and many paths and journeys, of an entrepreneur, have so many layers/colours/textures that I have never seen captured before by any artist,” she said.

Ahly sees her art as an opportunity to help depict the entrepreneurial spirit to a wider audience, to better appreciate and understand this world and its challenges.

She hopes to help people, including the next generation, grasp what it is like to watch ideas grow and what it takes to harvest those ideas into reality.

“I have had many wonderful moments, but my favourite was my exhibition called ‘Entrepreneurial Journey’ in November 2022 at UTS Startups,” Ahly said.  

Ahly used her paintings to vividly depict the intricate and often complex entrepreneurial journey, showcasing its true depth to a diverse audience of both business and non-business individuals during the exhibition.

Edge of Desert

Edge of Desert
You are through the desert.
You have traction.
You have arrived.
Drink in the joy of success.

Ahly paints the feeling of reaching the end of building a startup, like dragging yourself through a dry hot desert and revelling in the feeling of reaching the edge.

Rift

Rift
A once bland vision shifts to a rift, exposing a universe of ideas and opportunities.

Through this painting, Ahly tries to capture the transition of a vague idea into a powerful motion.

8 Dresses

8 Dresses
Design after design,
style after style…
perseverance towards perfection and success

Ahly beautifully captures the countless attempts to get to a perfect design, idea, vision, whatever it may be. We know entrepreneurs almost never get it right on the first try.

Bushfire

Bushfire
From idea to success…
You will be able to handle the heat.

This painting shows the flames that fan the fire of founders. It’s no easy feat to build a startup; only those who can handle the heat succeed.

When

When
When will my ideas take shape.
When will my path be clear.

At some point or the other every founder feels lost, confused, hopeless and maybe defeated during their journey. This painting is an attempt at capturing the emotion of ‘when.’

Paths

Paths
Creating and following our own path to success. For each of us different signposts on the way.

Here Ahly beautifully shows how everybody has their own path to success; we all are unique, and so must be our paths to success.

Oases

Oases
When a desert of thought turns to multiple oases of ideas.

Ahly paints the moment when an entrepreneurial mind barren of ideas is suddenly overflowing with them.

Magic Blue

Magic Blue
Every now and then, one bold idea stands out from the others.

Here Ahly represented how every once in a while, there is one bold idea that stands out from others, like the ‘magic blue’ in this painting, attracting all eyes towards it.

Warriors

Warriors
A dusty vision, headwinds, missteps…
mere hurdles to success but worthy challenges.

Aptly titled ‘Warriors,’ this captivating painting shows the struggle of an entrepreneur – emotional, physical, mental, and economic, every hurdle overcome is a reward in the making.

Metro

Metro
Busy, chaotic, metro city life. Ideas, dreams and desires… everyone striving to achieve

This one is my personal favorite. Upon zooming in, you can see train windows with seats and people. Ahly’s paintings can be interpreted in million different ways. I see it as everyone on the same train journey, just different seats. Some of us are right by the window, some at the back, and some standing through it.

Bridge

Bridge
Idea after idea, pivot after pivot, I built my bridge to success.

Here Ahly shows the tumultuous task of building the bridge to success. It’s never just one bridge but rather multiple ones, some built with achievements and some with failures, all amalgamating into a big bridge to success.

And with the ‘bridge,’ we’ve reached the end of the virtual exhibition.

Ahly says her biggest challenge is to create a platform through her art for the entrepreneurial sector to be more widely understood and try to create more appreciation of what it means to be an entrepreneur with all the highs and lows, patience and effort, focus and determination necessary to any success.