Her early work was dominated by images of women in unmistakable poses of power, performing roles in the public and private spheres, and celebrating female unity.
In the late nineteen fifties, Sirry made stylistic and thematic changes to reflect the grim mood created by discontent with the crackdown on dissent and curtailment of political freedom across the country.
While on fellowship at the Huntington Hartford Foundation in Pacific Palisades, California, 1965, she was introduced to the American style of abstract expressionism; in interviews Sirry credited this time in her life with “profound impact upon her art practice.
[5] The full abstraction was replaced in the early 1970s by the reappearance of human forms, but the dark paintings represent the fears of Sirry about the fortunes of women's emancipation.
Her uncles on her father's side were the ones who contributed to her introduction to art by taking her to the theater and giving her the opportunity to become familiar with the expansive library.
During this era of her artistic practice, Sirry utilized strong black contours to highlight figures on a flat plane, a quality that defined her early paintings, along with her vibrant color scheme, which was a trend in her work until her passing.
Six years after her imprisonment, in 1965, Sirry earned a fellowship to join the Huntington Hartford Foundation in Pacific Palisades, California, an artists' colony in the Santa Monica Mountains.
[10] In 2014, Shems Friedlander, professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and director of The Photographic Gallery, described Sirry as, '‘a senior Egyptian artist who is recognised on an international level.
"[11] Sirry and her art have majorly contributed to discourse pertaining to nationalism, cultural emancipation, gender politics, and individual freedoms within a sovereign state.