by Izzah
Before we move onto asking questions about art I think readers would love to find out more about you. Could you please tell us a little about yourself. And we can’t help noticing that you went out to India recently – when did you go and which places did you visit?
Hi! I’m Layla and I just turned 17 and currently live in a small town in Yorkshire. I grew up in the Midlands - Leicester - which I loved because I have a lot of family there and it is very multicultural and down-to-earth. In terms of family background, my mum’s Indian and my dad’s half-English and half-American, but my mum’s mum grew up in Tanzania - so my grandparents come from four different continents.
My family plus my Grandma (mum’s mum) all went to India in December for four weeks - which was very lucky as we just missed Covid-19 and lockdown! We covered lots of ground visiting Delhi, Bombay, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, which happen to be in the top five most populated cities.
Did you feel a sense of belonging in India? I know when I visit Pakistan I get a real feeling of community and family.
Certainly! There is a warmth and vibrancy in Indian culture that I recognise from being submerged in it since I was born - like the food, clothes and hospitality and even the goofy humour. Before I went, nearly everyone told me that India was a land of extremes, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, until I arrived and realised that despite being more chaotic in many ways than Britain, the country seemed very familiar.
What did you find surprising when you went out to India?
One thing that was surprising was how places that were utterly beautiful would be paired with squalid living conditions and the juxtaposition of elegance and grime shows the deep contrast between rich and poor. As well as this, beauty seemed casual and common place making every photo we took enticing to behold.
How was the food like there compared to over here?
The food was incredible - I would go so far as to say that there is no other cuisine like it. Indian cooking somehow manages to make even mundane food taste wondrous, and the variety of foods is like being on a continent with multiple cuisines. I think it’s so different to the UK because the ingredients used are so fresh and the flavours derived from herbs and spices create a rollercoaster in your mouth.
There are many Muslims from India who live in Yorkshire – well throughout England actually, and they often do not get the opportunity to visit so many major architectural marvels from their own heritage. Do you think this makes students feel a bit lost in terms of their heritage? And if so, what can be done to address this?
I definitely would say that I personally felt somewhat lost in my own heritage because being both Indian and Muslim, both of these aspects of my identity are almost always written out of British culture and history. I think that this phenomena can make students feel lost in their identities and placed between Britain and their own non-British cultures as the connection between them is not shown and makes their unique history feel fragmented.
Last year, I started an essay project on 'Why the British Empire should be taught in schools' and I think that this is one vital way that all students can better understand why our country is in its current state of division and polarisation and can help pupils of colour to understand and open their eyes to the value and richness of their own heritage further. I think that reforming the education system to make it more up to date and contextually coherent is likely to be very effective because it would reach the highest number of younger people in the country. Another way to address this problem is to decolonise public infrastructure and cultural institutions such as museums and galleries to show objects' colonial origins to shed light on the context that they came from and how the British procured them.
Layla, you very kindly allowed City Bugle to use your Black Lives Matter Art. Clearly you are someone who is motivated to call out all inequality. What are your thoughts on the treatment of Muslims in India?
My overwhelming feeling about the treatment of Muslims in India is a combination of sadness, anger and frustration of their treatment, in a country where Hindu nationalism has seen a sharp rise, where this wasn’t the case some decades ago when Muslims and Hindus were able to live relatively well together in a harmony that is now harder to find in some parts of the country, where Muslims live in fear of religious pogroms and with threats to their lives, property and livelihoods. We heard some devastating stories from family members while in India, where in one particular instance, a Muslim family in the Gujarati capital city, Ahmedabad, had to run through farm fields, leaving their homes permanently, to escape being burnt alive by their own Hindu neighbours- it is deeply horrifying to think that your own neighbours could wish such harm to you because of your religious faith and identity. Although, Bangalore - a city I visited in the south - was much more cosmopolitan, where different communities seemed to live with much more mutual respect for each other and in more harmony, so I think that different parts of India suffer from Islamophobia to different degrees.
If you were to meet an alien and had to only chose one country to give the alien an idea of what humans are like which country would you choose and why?
I think that I would take them to London because of its vast cultural diversity and there are lots of wonderful things to do like show them markets, West End plays, galleries and places like China Town which all feel very global. If they’re really lucky, the weather might not be miserable and they could appreciate the city in all its glory.
At what age did you start to get into art?
From what I remember, I started drawing as soon as I could pick up a pen. I spent a fair amount of my childhood glued to my desk creating and drawing all sorts of different pictures and craft projects so I think that I have always been drawn to doing art, as I have continued to do it ever since. Apparently (I have just found this out) my parents said that it kept me out of trouble, and my mum gave me her work desk.
Seems like art runs in your blood. Are there any artists in your family?
Yes, in fact my Grandma (on my Dad's side) has been an artist her whole life and she often uses watercolours to create charming illustrations of the way she sees the world or to show an emotion that’s come over her. I think that the way that she does art is inspiring because she expresses herself in an honest, quirky and even humorous way, and she has the talent of using a few deft strokes to lay out the world she is painting.
What artists influenced you when you were growing up?
I wouldn’t say that any specific artists influenced my artwork deeply growing up, as instead I took inspiration from my surroundings and anything else that was around me. From my point of view, art is wonderful because you can take inspiration from anywhere, which makes it continually exciting, as artists often never know what will spark their next piece. That said, I do love the art depicted in the Studio Ghibi films!
What mediums do you use in your art?
I tend to use a wide mix of media and techniques to create art, which vary based on the kind of piece I’m working on and what it lends itself to, but there are lots of media I have not experimented with yet like clay that I would love to explore with in the future. The most common ones that I use right now are acrylics, markers, watercolours and collage paper.
Could you choose one or two pieces of the fabulous artwork that you did that was inspired by your visit to India and tell us a bit more about each one?
This is a mixed media piece of the Jamia Mosque in Delhi; the mosque itself is incredibly beautiful with stunning red and white intricately-carved interiors. I stuck down layers of different collage paper to form a textured background, as well as patterned fabric to bring further texture to this backdrop, alongside envelope packaging and Hindi newspaper, layered down with washes of acrylics and brusho inks. After this, I guided masking fluid along the ceiling area to keep the detail of the arches, brushed more red paint onto it, and then peeled off the fluid to show the design. This is the most experimental mixed media piece I have done so far, so it was very interesting to see how everything would turn out in the artistic process. Down below the is the reference photo.
The next piece is a mono print of Chandni Chowk in old Delhi. My mum captured this photo as we were strolling through, and I think that it captures the essence of the bustling, hectic and marvellous experience you have when walking through the markets in old town Delhi - including being slightly paranoid that a rickshaw could run over your toes if you’re not careful!
I started by pencilling in an outline of the buildings and people, and etched this onto a piece of plastic using a protractor nib, rubbing black ink into the ridges and transferring this onto a piece of paper that was then spun through a machine to press them together. I then proceeded to wash watercolour over the scene to breathe vibrancy into the piece. I think I will go back in the future and add a depiction of the wires, because they are wonderfully interesting and the slightly dangerously tangled mess seems to fit in perfectly with the chaotic yet harmonious atmosphere and activity of this place.
Would you like be an artist when you grow up?
Like a lot of young people, I am not yet of fixed mind on what I want to do when I am older. A year or two ago, I was quite set on the idea of pursuing art therapy (a form of therapy where patients relieve their trauma or other problems through experimentation in art); however, I am not as sure about this anymore, as I am soon starting A-levels and have been reading up on sociology, also a deep and multi-layered subject, which I could also see myself potentially pursuing further in the future. I’m excited to see where my studies take me and I think that art will always play a big part in my life, whether it is involved in my career or not!