Sajad H Hamdani

Sajad H. Hamdani is an artist by profession and an instructor at Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Srinagar. Born and brought up in Srinagar, Kashmir which is surrounded by big majestic mountains, huge fresh water lakes and gigantic maple trees were his playgrounds and inspirations .
During the age of adolescence, he quit study for feeling that school was nothing else but a prison. He went on wandering and working odd jobs as an apprentice to a commercial artist, carpenter but could not appreciate the labour because most of it was concerned with production and obligation. It was in the year 1989 that the things changed drastically for him as for most of Kashmiris due to political turmoil and unrest. He lost his job and had to spend most of his time indoors somehow he was exposed to paintings, literature and arts. From that point he decided to study further.

His friends introduced him to the Institute of Music and Fine Arts, an autonomous institution affiliated with the University of Kashmir. In 1993 he enrolled for the course of BFA in sculpture. It took him seven years to complete the degree due to the turmoil which escalated with time.
In 1994 he founded the group along with other artists of Kashmir known as Contemporary Arts Foundation artistscommune; which contributed in developing arts activities among youth of the valley. The foundation was disbanded in 2001 due to the lack of funds and general apathy towards arts by the local administration.
The group artistcommune served as a platform for young artists to exhibit and explore different aspects of contemporary arts more for more than seven years.
After graduation he worked as art teacher in Delhi Public School Jammu and went to pursue further study at Visva-Bharati University founded by the Nobel Laureate Guru Deb Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, which is also known as Santiniketan. Being the first student to apply in the department since it was established he got admission on merit and joined Kala-Bhavana, the fine arts faculty for MFA course in sculpture and was awarded merit scholarships for both his years. He qualified the faculty with a first class first.
These two years were the best productive years of his creative endeavors. The surroundings and the atmosphere brought a new life into his works he realized that it is not only the techniques, skills or intellectual pursuits that brings the artists closer to beauty and truth but a right atmosphere is also essential, like a tree which needs sunshine to grow an artist needs inspirations .After completing his masters he could not return to his homeland due to the unrest and hostile situation he stayed back in the campus for more six months but couldn't continue working further due to financial reasons. He was offered a job in an alternative school in Bangkok, Thailand, where he taught arts for one and a half year, and finally returned to the valley where he currently works and teaches.

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