By MEHBOOB RAJWANI

I am a self-taught artist from Tanzania based in Vancouver/Burnaby, Canada. I am retired and work from home in my studio. My art is inspired by vibrant landscapes and diverse wildlife. I try and capture them in my paintings. I also enjoy exploring abstraction and the human figure in my work. I like using vibrant colours in my art because I want to engage the viewer in a brighter way of seeing and experiencing life. I view these images through the artistic lens, looking at every angle, shape, and ray of light as a direct receptacle for creation.

I have exhibited works at the Roundhouse Community Centre organized by the Aga Khan Ismaili Council for Canada and various local exhibitions, including the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival and Ismaili Center Vancouver. Recently, my artwork was accepted for display in Dubai for the Global Encounters 2025. My art piece, “Baobab Buffaloes,” was published in a book by Taslim Samji, “Kampala to Canada.” My work has also been published in the Artany Magazine, U.K.  

I am enrolled at Emily Carr University of Arts and Design to demonstrate my commitment to art. I am glad to share a few of my art pieces through this forum in Simerg, which highlights the work of Ismaili Muslim artists worldwide.

Dadimaa

This portrays the ever-knowing grandmother. Though she may be shrouded in elegant brocade, her face shows what lies beneath.  Her eyes carry the weight from years of life.  Guile imbues her profile as wisdom unravels itself from a loom of knowledge.  The intricacies of her wins and losses, light and darkness, defeats and accomplishments, are captured in this still singular moment.  She has been left and loved, witnessed wars, and seen the world shift like a handful of sand slipping between her fingers.  Where there is pain, one finds Allah giving her strength and His compassion to forge ahead into the present, no longer lost but found. This painting was inspired by a photograph of Sultan Bhaloo’s grandmother.

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Vanishing Paradise

All of us have an opportunity to save the natural world in one way or another.  They say we fall in love with nature in different ways. For some, it is beholding orcas leaping out of the ocean, a heron silently stalking fish in a lagoon at dawn, the tragic joy of a salmon run. Thus, representing all of nature in its fragility. As such, I have created an underwater ocean floor to bring awareness for the beauty and splendour of the diverse species and coral that are unfortunately facing extinction.

I used oil paints to create an imaginative multi-coloured reef in an aquamarine background with a swimming turtle, exotic fish, and other colourful species. This work also depicts the gradual extinction of coral as it becomes dead and bleached, thus reducing the number of inhabitants. 

My goal is to show the ocean’s importance as our home and the need to care for it as such. “In the existential quest to save the future, we need loving, persuasive leaders to save Earth,” says environmentalist Calvin Sandborn.

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Let Me Protect You

This piece depicts a loyal grandmother and child embracing in a moment of shared love.

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Elephants in Mud

This piece is sentimental to me as it is the first one of my works done in Canada. It reminds me of the wildlife memories I left behind in Africa. It took me some time as I painted it slowly, creating each elephant at a time. It displays the mother and calves enjoying playing in the mud, washing each other’s backs with their long trunks and being protective and caring.  Their proximity to the water hole offers sustenance and a desirable cooling effect. Their unique ability to remember is poignant and touching, as they remain with their herd for years. Elephant mothers are fiercely nurturing and protective. As a result, nature has so much to teach us about family, love and caring for one another. At a time when poachers are prevalent, it is important to celebrate and protect these beautiful creatures. This piece has been selected by Global Encounters 2025 for exhibition in Dubai.

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Dreamscape

This painting represents The Okanagan Desert and is the common name for a semi-arid shrubland located in the southern region of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. It is centered around the city of Osoyoos and is the only semi-arid shrubland in Canada. Part of this ecosystem is called the Nk’mip Desert by the Osoyoos Indian Band. It is one of the most endangered ecosystems in Canada.

The artistic vision of this work is to show the dry arid hills’ breadth and the land’s scope, which still maintain their beauty despite their fragility. The hills are dream-like to me, representing waves that could go on for miles and miles, yet looking stark and even lost because of their lack of vegetation. I have added robust colours to this imaginary scape to bring out the vividness of the land as it may have been at one time in the past. I have used six-panel canvases to bring the segments in unison. When placed together as one painting, they symbolically mark the fragmented nature of this piece and the possibility of wholeness in nature.

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 Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is celebrated with faces depicting masks of love, hate, despair, and hope. The intricacies of bright colours and festivities demonstrate my representation of humanity. By bringing all cultures together and blending them into one another, Mardi Gras creates a peaceful symbol of unification and celebration. Here, difference is encouraged and complementary to the final vision.

Date posted: October 22, 2024.
Last updated: October 23, 2024.

Corrections: (1) Taslim Samji was misspelled as Talim, and (2) it was incorrectly mentioned that Sultan Bhaloo took photographs of the paintings displayed here. A portrait of Bhaloo’s grandmother inspired Mehboob Rajwani’s painting Dadimaa. The corrections are reflected in our latest update.

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The editor invites Ismaili artists to submit a selection of their paintings and other works of art for publication in Simerg. Please submit images of no more than 8 objects in Jpeg (1200 x 900) and your profile to the editor, Malik, at mmerchant@simerg.com.