May

The equality of all people and all religions is a principle that lies at the heart of the Sikh faith. This principle which is rooted in a belief in the one-ness of God and his creation was expressed through the first words that the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Ji (1469-1539) uttered after his enlightenment - "Na Koi Hindu , Na Koi Mussalman" ('there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim'). The world religions are respected as equally valid, viewed as different paths on the same quest, all leading to the One True Divine Being. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji (the Sacred Scripture of the Sikhs) contains the spiritual wisdom and teachings not only of the Sikh Gurus but also Hindu and Muslim saints.

As such, whilst born into a Sikh family, our father respected the value of other faiths too and had no hesitation sending us to a Catholic Convent school. Specialist Sikh schools were not available where we lived or indeed anywhere in UK at that time and for him it was important that we should have not only the best education but the spiritual and moral grounding and discipline that Convent schools were known for. Given the open minded outlook of Sikhism, we ourselves did not feel any conflict with our own faith as Sikhs, taking an active role in the religious life of the school - joining the choir and worshiping alongside fellow pupils in the school Chapel.

Our father's decision to send us to a Convent school shaped the interests we would develop later on in life which, in turn, influenced our art. It was the religious statues and beautiful stained glass windows depicting Christian saints and stories from the Bible that first sparked our fascination for religious iconography and led us to read for University degrees in Comparative Religion and Religion and the Arts both at undergraduate and post graduate level. The knowledge we gained during that time influenced the eclectic style of our work, which draws on a range of artistic traditions, themes and visual symbolism associated with different world religions and mythologies.

One such artwork, titled, 'The Universal Essence' depicts a figure in meditation (symbolising the universal soul) surrounded by the symbols of different world faiths, suspended in the essence of the Divine Being whose light is shown permeating all creation. The artwork is part of a larger mural commissioned in 2023 for Manchester Museum's South Asia Gallery.