Kashmiri girl spreads peace, love through her artwork

Badr U Nissa Bhat, a resident of Srinagar city in Jammu & Kashmir has chosen an off-beat and peaceful method of expressing her solidarity with religion in general and Sufism in particular. The 20-year-old is using her painting skills to express her Sufi thoughts. Bhat credits her grandfather for introducing her to Sufism. Bhat began making paintings at a very young age. She started with whirling dervishes, a customary meditation practice performed in a worship ceremony, in which dervishes, i.e., Sufi saints, aim to reach the source of all perfection. She got inspired by the ideology of the dervishes who whirl with their right hand held open and up so as to receive grace from Allah and the left hand facing downward toward the earth so as to give that grace and light to the world. She started portraying this ideology in her paintings. But the main focus of Bhat is on the subject of Sufi women who are very less talked about in the contemporary Sufi art. Badr has participated in several painting competitions such Kashmir Art Quest, Ramazan Art Expression and many more and has thus won several awards as well. Her paintings have also been exhibited in Turkey and Australia and major exhibitions are on the cards in the coming days. Badr is thankful to her parents and teachers for all their support and emcorgament. The way Badr is expressing her Sufi thoughts through her artworks is really laudable. She has turned out an inspiration for the people who have a different perspective of looking into the world and just want to spread love and peace through their work.