His paintings often feature custom palettes that summon memories of his several homes. He imagines nondescript features and scenes free of recognition, yet they hold anchors of secure psychological footing. His visual language has evolved decisively from the precise delineation of East African facial features that tether him to home, to more open, liminal human forms—undefended, elemental, and soul-forward. These figures feel both intimate and universal, making room for anyone to recognize themselves. His murals arrest passerby because he uniquely creates "portals of movement" rather than overly determined representations. Increasingly, he plays with landscape as a conceptual armature, letting water, deserts, and floral planes dissolve into "chromatic weather".

His debut series, Journey to Serenity, showcases a "hush-layered brushwork that welcomes irregularity" and transmutes instability into presence, reflecting a composed and relational way of moving through the world. His recent solo exhibition, Tracing the Inner Child, created a community exchange (in lieu of an artist talk) where a diverse audience could find their journeys, stories, yearnings, and paths for healing through the questions his work raises. Ghirmay is described as a "world-building artist" who dreams up new worlds of ancestors and future descendants, managing to save himself from the destabilizing effects of refugee trauma through his art.

Beyond his craft, Ghirmay is recognized for his discipline, focus, and generosity, holding deep values of building supportive communal space to learn about and with others within and beyond art communities. He is described as being "truly free of ego, awake to the violences of the world, yet calm and intentional in how he engages it".