Degree Show 2024: Meet the Graduates - Datti Kaur

Introduce yourself and your work. What ideas and themes are important to you?

I am a diasporic Indian raised in Singapore and gained my Bachelors in Fine Arts as well as second Bachelors in Highschool IB Art Education. I have been trained in Indian Classical Music and this has heavily influenced my artworks. It is important for me to express my culture (specially the culture of being a diasporic Indian) within my art.

Influenced by poets of the Sikh, Sufi, and Bhakti movements, particularly the Barahamaha poetry for now, Datti's artwork invites viewers to immerse themselves in rich landscapes and discover their own interpretation of the omnipresent divine within nature and themselves.

What materials do you use? Why have you chosen to work with these materials?

I use a mix of natural pigments and gouache paints to create very vibrant and colourful paintings.

Before starting my MA, I used to primarily work with colour pencils.

What drew you to the School, and what do you want to remember about these last two years?

My passion for exploring my heritage led me to pursue a Master’s degree at the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, focusing on Indian Miniature painting. I was drawn to this school as it is the only school that teaches Indian Miniature painting as a Fine Arts degree and not an Art History one.

I have formed amazing bonds with my classmates, all of whom are talented artists with beautiful perspectives and unique skills. Being able to be around such wonderful minds, learning from each other is the main thing I have cherished from this program and will miss.

Describe your studio to us – what would we find?

In my studio, you would find piles of made colors in small ceramic pots scattered all over the room - this process brings me so much joy. Along with this, I have sheets on sheets of paper filled with paint swatches

My studio is always bustling with loud music in different genres, languages, and energy levels. My artistic practice is completely guided by music.

In my studio, my favorite area is the bookshelf, which is filled with Indian miniature painting books (stacked on top of each other). I routinely go through a book each day for inspiration.

Professionally, what are your hopes and goals?

After this degree, I will be pursuing a full-time career in Art, and my goals are to;

• continue completing the remaining 10 seasons from my MA project on the 12 seasonal months.
• Get my works into big named galleries and create commissioned works.
• IMPORTANT: to continue building on the tradition of Indian miniature painting but to push it out of the past and into the present. After learning techniques from this school, it is important for me to mix the past with the contemporary and make my own unique style of works that I will be known for.