BlueMehndi is a living, breathing expression of history, myth, and people, rooted in the depth of Indian culture. It draws from personal experiences, stories passed down through generations, from the symbolism of gods and goddesses to the traditions carried in ritual, fabric, and art. These works are a reflection of culture, ancestry, and imagination, connecting the sacred past with the present moment.

Each artwork becomes a meeting point between imagination and memory, where the

unseen finds form and the ordinary is transformed into something sacred.

BACK TO BLUEMEHNDI

CULTURE

COMMUNITY & TRADITION

Art is Culture

I believe it’s essential to capture culture, our time, and this moment as a reference, so future generations can see, feel, and understand the world as we experience it now.

Culture, to me, is both an intimate and expansive force that shapes the societies we live in and the way we perceive ourselves. It is not a fixed set of traditions or rituals; rather, it is a fluid, evolving language through which we interpret existence.

Growing up at the intersection of South Asian and British cultures, I found myself navigating two distinct worlds—one rich with the philosophies, rituals, and spiritual depth of Indian, Islamic, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani heritage, and the other structured by the systems, institutions, and unspoken codes of British life. I was raised in a home where Urdu poetry and Sufi wisdom coexisted with English literature and Western ideologies, where the warmth of familial storytelling clashed with the cool detachment of individualism.

CULTURE NEEDS TO BE SEEN

This duality shaped the way I saw the world, teaching me that culture is not something we passively inherit but something we actively engage with, challenge, and reshape. It is not just about the customs we follow but about the way we think, the stories we tell, and the values we embody. Over time, I realized that culture is not about choosing one identity over another—it is about embracing the contradictions, finding resonance in unexpected places, and ultimately, creating something uniquely personal. My art is a direct extension of this journey, capturing the tension between belonging and self-definition, the harmony and dissonance that exist within cultural landscapes.

A REFLECTION OF CULTURE

Blue Mendi is my way of recording and reflecting on these experiences—of preserving the moments, emotions, and philosophies that define who we are. It is not about consciously showcasing culture but about capturing its essence, the way it breathes through our daily lives. It is an adaptation of everything I have observed—of the esoteric wisdom, rituals, and spiritual heritage of South Asia, woven together with the structural and social frameworks of British life. Through my work, I create a space where people can connect with cultures they may not have encountered before, allowing art to serve as both an entry point and a mirror.

Cultural art has the power to invite curiosity, offering a safe yet profound way to explore something unfamiliar, to witness another’s reality without intrusion.

It allows us to ask questions: Why do people hold these beliefs? How do they see the world? What do their traditions reflect about their values and histories? But beyond this, my art is a form of storytelling—a way to honor the lived experiences of individuals, to celebrate their beauty, their struggles, their existence. It is about acknowledging that, despite our differences, we all share the same fundamental desires: to belong, to be understood, and to be remembered. Through Blue Mendi, I hope to provide that space—a space where culture is not simply observed but felt, where people can find a connection to something greater than themselves, and where their own stories, in all their complexity, are reflected back at them.

''True sovereignty lies in understanding history, seeing it not as a story but as evolution.''

Art is Community

Community is not just where we are born; it is the fabric that shapes our survival, our hunger, and our ability to transcend limitations. It is not about sameness—it is about a shared rhythm, a pulse that connects those who refuse to stand still. I grew up watching this rhythm play out in the streets, in the homes, in the silent struggles and the unspoken agreements between people who knew that to move forward, they had to move together.

It wasn’t about status, wealth, or heritage; it was about waking up and doing the work, pushing forward because there was no other choice. The South Asian spirit I witnessed was relentless—a hunger to carve out a future, to create possibility where none existed, to ensure that the next generation didn’t have to fight the same battles. It was resilience made manifest.

THE EXPERIENCE OF PEOPLE

I carry that in me. The understanding that community is the unseen architecture of survival. I watched people build—not just businesses, but entire ecosystems of trust, exchange, and responsibility. This wasn’t charity; it was a necessity. It was knowing that one person's rise meant a path was cleared for others to follow. Community is the silent force that keeps you standing when everything else pushes you down. It shapes identity, but more than that, it shapes endurance. It is the reason we don’t collapse under the weight of our struggles. It is a fire passed from hand to hand, from generation to generation, each flame igniting the next.

OBSERVING THE REALITY

Art is where that fire becomes visible. It is where the unseen becomes seen, where stories take form, and where legacy is honoured and carried forward. The South Asian immigrants who came to the UK weren’t just seeking a better life; they were architects of a future they would never fully inhabit, laying foundations for those who would walk after them.

Their struggle, their labour, their sacrifices—they are the brushstrokes that make up my work. I create because I refuse to let these histories disappear into silence. Through my art, I reach back to them, and in doing so, I pull them forward into the present. This is what art is meant to do—not just to decorate, but to remember, to remind, to insist on the significance of lives that built the world we stand on.To see art that embodies community is to be confronted with the truth that we are not alone.

It is a mirror reflecting not just where we come from, but where we are going. It reminds us that strength is not an individual pursuit; it is collective, generational, woven into the sacrifices of those who stood before us. The people I paint, the textures I use, the compositions I create—they are not just aesthetics. They are living testaments. Community is not a thing of the past; it is the energy that shapes our future. And through my work, I ensure that energy is never forgotten.

I guide the viewer to see reality differently to step beyond the habitual ways of thinking and feeling and into a space where we can truly observe, reflect, and redefine the world we believe to be real.

Art is
Tradition

Tradition, to me, is not just an external practice—it is something alive, something carried within. It is a rhythm, a pulse that runs through the way people live, create, and express themselves. Growing up between different cultural and spiritual traditions—Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity—I experienced the weight and the beauty of tradition firsthand. It wasn’t something abstract or distant; it was something I absorbed, something I lived.

I saw how tradition isn’t just about customs—it’s about presence, about how people embody their beliefs through action, through ritual, through the way they move through the world. It is in the small things, the incense burning in the corner of a room, the way hands come together in prayer, the rhythm of voices reciting sacred words. Tradition, in this way, is more than history—it is a form of art. It is the choreography of a people’s beliefs, expressed through symbols, colors, sounds, and movements. And just like art, it is something that can be deeply personal and yet universally understood.

For me, tradition has always been both a source of inspiration and a point of tension. It has given me a foundation, and a sense of belonging, but it has also raised questions. What parts of tradition do we inherit, and what parts do we create for ourselves? How do we honour the past without being bound by it? My art is my way of engaging with these questions. It is my way of taking the traditions that have shaped me and filtering them through my own experience, my own hands. I don’t see my work as a replication of tradition but as a continuation of it—an evolution.

In every piece I create, there is something old and something new, something remembered and something imagined. I take the visual languages of tradition—the motifs, the symbols, the sacred geometries—and I weave them into something that speaks to the present. In doing this, I am not rejecting tradition; I am expanding it, breathing new life into it.

THE AWARENESS OF TRADITION

It is important to show tradition because, in many ways, tradition is what holds us together. Even in a world that constantly changes, some threads remain unbroken, that connect people across time and space. And yet, tradition is often misunderstood it is either dismissed as outdated or treated as something rigid and untouchable. But to me, tradition is neither of those things.

It is fluid, adaptive, and alive. By showing tradition in my work, I aim to reveal its depth, its emotional power, its ability to transcend boundaries. I want people to see that tradition is not just a thing of the past it is something that lives in them, whether they recognize it or not. It is in the way they celebrate, the way they mourn, the way they create meaning in their lives. My art is an invitation to see tradition not as something fixed, but as something that continues to unfold, something that each person is a part of.

Traditional art, in particular, offers people a bridge—a way to connect to something beyond themselves. It carries within it the knowledge, the stories, and the spirit of those who came before us.

HOW I CURATE TRADITION

But what excites me most is the way traditional art can also evolve, the way it can be reimagined without losing its essence. In my work, I want to create that balance—to honor the weight of history while also allowing space for reinvention. With collections like Blue Mendi, I am not just presenting traditional aesthetics; I am inviting people to engage with tradition in a way that is personal, intimate, and contemporary. I want them to see the echoes of the past in the present, to feel the connection between what has been and what is still becoming. Because in the end, tradition is not something we simply inherit—it is something we shape, something we give forward, something we keep alive through the choices we make and the art we create.

Fantasy is also deeply connected to our conditioning. We are taught what to fantasize about—whether through culture, media, or societal structures. Some fantasies serve to inspire, while others are designed to keep people chasing something they may never truly reach. This is where the line blurs between fantasy as a tool for expansion and fantasy as a means of control.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS UNIQUE ARTISTIC JOURNEY, CONTACT JAI SOL'S AGENT VIA EMAIL, OR ALTERNATIVELY, VISIT THE 101 CURATION WEBSITE TO BE PART OF HIS EXCLUSIVE CURATION EXPERIENCES.