Young Kashmir Women Take Up Calligraphy Work, Set A New Trend

Breaking the social taboos, women in Kashmir have now chosen calligraphy, an ancient art and are presenting it in an enchanting way, giving a new lease of life to the art of calligraphy.

Since the past few days, young women from different walks of life in Kashmir have been trending on the social media due to their calligraphy work and has earned them plaudits.

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Shafiya Shafi, 26, a calligrapher from Srinagar told IndiaTimes said that she started making the calligraphy at a time when no other was doing it because of the COVID lockdown. ¡°I started this artwork from this year only. I have been doing abstract calligraphy which is very new to Kashmir as it is mostly done in foreign only,¡± Shafiya said.

She said that she mostly prefers to do calligraphy on the traditional items. ¡°I do it on pottery items Tumbaknaer (popular of Kashmiri folk instrument) and others,¡± says Shafiya, who studied Psychology from Kashmir University.

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Ideas being copied by others for good

Shafiya believes that ideas of calligraphy were being copied by the others. ¡°I am always trying to come up with new ideas so that people love it,¡± she said adding that she has taken to customized mode now and has been taking the orders from the customers.

The 24-year-old Samreen Fareed has calligraphed a full chapter of the holy Qur¡¯an and is now planning to calligraph the entire scripture. ¡°I am busy with my exams these days and will do it once I am done with it,¡± says Samreen who studies MBA from Islamia College Srinagar.

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Guidance still needed

Fareed said that experts should be there who could guide the calligraphy artists in Kashmir. ¡°Though we make the things, we still lack the knowledge about the work. A proper guidance can help us grow stronger,¡± she believes.

Safura Hameed, a young calligraphy artist from Srinagar has taken the calligraphy to another level ¨C she took it in 3D mode. ¡°This has impressed the people here and demand for it has gone high,¡± she said.

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Social media helping cause

Safura said that social media handles like Instagram have helped her to take her work to the larger audience. ¡°I have made the accounts by the name ¡®Naayaab¡¯ where people have been dropping the booking orders,¡± and I get them done,¡± she said.

Nadiya Mushtaq Mir, 31, a well known calligrapher and designer says calligraphy requires long hours of serious dedication. ¡°To accomplish a piece of art, one must dedicate continuous focused hours,¡± she said.

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No gender-specific challenges faced

When asked whether she faced any gender-specific challenges, she said, ¡°Not at all. The clients consider the work very religious as I do it in Arabic language and gave me a lot of respect for my work,¡± says Nadiya who has done Masters in Economics and Diploma in Fashion Designing.

A resident of central Kashmir¡¯s Budgam district, Nadiya said that it was her passion for calligraphy since her childhood. ¡°I always wanted to follow my dreams and do something in life. Through Calligraphy, I was able to channelize my creativity. The first time I started doing calligraphy, I realised I am good at it and I had an intuition that if I continue working on my talent, I could be better at it,¡± says Nadiya who makes calligraphy on the poets like Rumi, Iqbal and many other themes.

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'Khawaja Sisters' winning hearts

A band of four sisters called ¡®Khawaja Sisters¡¯ namely Sabila Manzoor, Samreen Maqsood, Nijaya Bulbul and Nayeema Bulbul from Uri area of north Kashmir are famous by the name of Artist Band on Instagram for making the calligraphy on the out of box themes. ¡°We create art on love, life, women, society and other topics,¡± says Sabila, who is the group head.

Sana Mushtaq, 23, an MCA student at Lovely Professional University in Punjab said that she has been doing the sketching since her school days. ¡°I used to participate in the school drawing competition and later one day I made a sketch of my cousin and got good remarks from my family members and it prompted me to opt for calligraphy,¡± says Sana.

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However, Sana finds the dark future of calligraphers in absence of any platform to showcase their artwork. ¡°No exhibitions and events pertaining to calligraphy are being held in Kashmir. Though the artists are talented but don¡¯t have a place to show their work,¡± she added, ¡°We don¡¯t even have any art gallery in Kashmir too that is much to our surprise.¡±

Internet shutdown hits artwork

With no other platform available, Sana says only social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram are the source with them to reach out to a wider audience. ¡°But when the Internet shuts here, it affects our work too and the same happened after the abrogation of Article 370,¡± she says adding that more women were joining the work which may revive the art and is truly a positive gesture.

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According to the Archaeological Survey, scholar Sharaf-ud-din Bulbul Shah introduced calligraphy to Kashmir in 14th century. During that period, calligraphers had attained the great positions in the Mughal court and shared an engrossing relation with Kashmir.