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Saheli Khastagir, Artist[/caption]
Saheli Khastagir is young and dreamy, with a smile that can light up the darkest hour. This Delhite is a visual artist, a poet and a humanitarian. Her bold, psychedelic work is creating ripples across the globe, in USA, Chile, France, and India of course, among other countries.
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When a fish met a bird; artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
Art was her savior
The surprising fact is that this young art livewire is not trained in fine arts. Saheli started dabbling in Art as a child, but her ‘phases’, as she terms her early encounters with art, never manifested into a product that she was satisfied with. She flirted with colors on and off, until one day, they subsumed her existence.
Saheli was an undergraduate, final-year, psychology student when Art found her. “It was a difficult time for me. I was unsettled and unable to fathom the reason behind my restless disposition.”
Art came to her rescue.
“During that time, Art became an addiction that aided calm. Self-preservation was the unadulterated motive, Art was only a functional tool to that effect”, said Saheli, reminiscing her early relationship with her gift. Over the years, Saheli has witnessed herself take a backseat as her Art slowly took center stage in her life.
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Search #1; Artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
The Road Less Traveled
What enabled Saheli to break the hashed life routine of education, job, and marriage to embrace the spontaneity and uncertainty of Art?
“My parents had always encouraged me to think for myself. They probably wish they had toned down on it a bit, seeing me now,” quipped Saheli, referring to her fiercely independent persona.
Saheli forced financial independence on herself early in life – a decision that gave her strength to follow her passions without being shackled down by the expectations of the society. “It's easier to navigate your own path in life if you're paying your own bills.”
But, Saheli doubts if she has escaped the well-trodden path completely.
“I am 26. I have plenty of time to fall on the familiar route again.”
In her journey towards Art, Saheli has received positive and negative sentiments in equal measures. But, she requests that fellow mavericks cut the society some slack. She understands the concern, albeit ignorant, demonstrated by people who do not understand her profession or her passion. And, there are enough ‘aye-sayers’ to keep her going.
“For every judgmental comment I have received, I have also received a fair amount of support. We tend to magnify the negative comments we receive and forget the positive ones.”
Self-taught artists do not have it easy in the traditional art-spheres, especially in a country like India, where connections are deemed a pre-requisite to be successful. But, according to Saheli, the online world has changed the game significantly.
“[Artists today] are catering to a new audience with shorter attention span and a smartphone in their hands. The media and technique are constantly evolving. It is all very exciting.”
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free like the water; Artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
Early Success
An artist’s real motivators are highly personal, believes Saheli. She refers to them as an internal process of “little breakthroughs” towards stylistic improvements and maturity of work. But, Saheli experienced the power of external validation early in her artistic career.
“[It] was before I did any kind of promotion of my work. All I had was a blog.” In those early years of her artistic endeavor, Saheli sold her first painting online, even before she had taken herself seriously as an artist.
“To think that someone from across the world would find my work online and would want to spend money on it, suddenly made me respect my work more.”
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Flowers in her hair; artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
Crusade for Mental Health
Psychology and the understanding of the human mind have always remained at the center of Saheli’s Art.
“Even when I am making a portrait or expressing something technical or intellectual, I am always trying to get inside the skin of the being,” says Saheli.
The next horizon is to make her art meaningful and contribute back to the community. She is working actively for causes she believes in and to “change perceptions and create a more inclusive kind of consciousness in the viewers.”
Saheli’s project MHIllustrated is a step in that direction. Saheli’s close brush with Mental Health exposed the lack of understanding among patients and caregivers of mental illnesses. She realized that unaffected people have very little information and awareness about mental health. So, Saheli has set forth in trying to create illustrative pieces that go beyond jargonizing psychology and enable easier understanding of the matter.
“What I am trying to do is create personal artifacts that grab the attention of non-mental health practitioners, help them empathize and understand a particular mental health concept, and then connect them to other already available useful sources of information”
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Ma; Artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
A Better Place for You and for Me
Saheli feels strongly that the world, at large, is suffering from a “growing sense of wariness and mistrust of otherness”, a cause she is keen to take up in her future projects. She hopes to find a way to demonstrate the similarities that tie the human race together, despite the superficial differences.
“I hope that my art can counter hatred, without being preachy,” says the young activist.
A Word of Encouragement
For those who are impassioned by art but weary of the financial viability in its pursuit, Saheli has some practical advice.
“Firstly, when art really grips you, you don't have the choice to leave; you have to keep doing it. Secondly, it doesn't have to be the only source of income for you. So many famous artists have juggled their art with day-jobs. The important thing is to find a way to keep doing it. It sounds really simple; but it really is the most important thing, kinda like what Neil Gaiman said in his "Make Good Art" speech.”
Saheli believes that persistent, quality work can never go unnoticed. She advises those in pursuit of success to make a schedule of sending work out to possible patrons – either through social media or more traditional channels.
“If you do that constantly and do that well, I believe that it has to bring some fruit,” remarks the artist.
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crossroads of confusion; Artist: Saheli Khastagir[/caption]
An Ode to the Pioneers
As we wind down, Saheli closes with a humble ode to those who paved the way for her.
“I keep telling myself how lucky I am to be woman artist in 2015, instead of in 1915. And I owe it to all the women artists of 1915, to use each and every resources and opportunities that I have (and that they didn't) to advance my goals.”
Team Blank Slate thanks Saheli Khastagir for her time and wishes her all the very best in her amazing journey. You can check out Saheli’s art and other creative pursuits at www.sahelikhastagir.com.
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Saheli Khastagir, Artist[/caption]
Are you excited by her work and her journey? Do you have any questions for Saheli? Write to us at editor@blankslatechronicles.com