Versatile artist working in a wide range of media who between the ages of two and seven lived in Kenya, then moved to Leeds, eventually taking a foundation course there at Jacob Kramer College. She graduated in fine art at Maidstone College of Art, 1982–5, gaining her master’s in art and architecture at Kent Institute of Art and Design, Canterbury, 1993–4. Hirst was an Artist in Research, funded by the Institute of International Visual Arts and worked with a number of architects. In 1997 she was on the design team to rebuild the Hippodrome Theatre, also working at the University of Central England, both in Birmingham; from 1997 was artist on the design team to rebuild a unit of the Royal Free Hospital; and in 1998 worked at J D Wetherspoon, West Bromwich.