Shahida Ahmed’s art fit for the Prime Minister

Shahida Ahmed was invited for her contributions towards the arts. Known as the first Muslim female ceramic artist born in the UK from Pakistani origin she has led many creative projects and is the founder of the UK’s first hand written Qur’an.

Shahida Ahmed explained “I feel very honoured to be invited and even more honoured to present the Prime Minister with a piece of art. The piece I chose to give was from my collection ‘Ornaments of the lost world’. Being inspired by a trip to Cordoba I am looking at interfaith dialogue and pluralism. This was part of an MA in community leadership and I was fascinated about how the three faiths lived together and influenced each other in arts and culture. The name ‘Ornaments of the lost world’ is based on a book written on Spain. The collection consists of white stoneware pieces, decorated in black slip with the calligraphic inscription of ‘Bismillahi-Rahmani-Rahim’. This was again influenced by calligraphy in the Tomb of Mawlana Idris from Fes in Morroco. The clay was taken literally from the ground of Andalusia and mixed into the stone ware clay from Stoke On Trent to show the meaning is significant.”

Left: Shahida Ahmed answers the Prime Minister’s questions on the decoration of the piece. Right: Prime Minister David Cameron and Shahida Ahmed holding the ceramic art work. Images courtesy of Shahida Ahmed

Shahida Ahmed has also presented works to Prince Charles, Gulgee, Iqbal Hussain, Jermaine Jackson and has works in numerous collections around the world. She hopes her work will inspire many other, especially Muslim women, to pursue a career in art. Clay is a medium not many artist use and for her it seems like a natural medium to manipulate and amalgamate in to a form.

Shahida Ahmed with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. Image courtesy of Shahida Ahmed

Baroness Warsi discusses the art works with Shahida Ahmed to be presented to the Prime Minister. Image courtesy of Shahida Ahmed

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi visited Shahida Ahmed in Pendle to see the creative developments in the community

Sayeeda Warsi visited Pendle to see the works in the community. Shahida Ahmed told the Baroness about many projects that were developed for the needs of the community. She was shown how art can make a change and caters the needs of a community. One initiative was developed though the project ‘Masala’. This particular project explored how masala products were used to create a piece of art. A medium which ladies used in the daily lives.

The Baroness stated “ it’s very inspiring to see the work Shahida is doing and she is a very inspiring woman”  Shahida Ahmed is also the founder of the project ‘Uk’s first Hand Written Qur’an’ penned by calligrapher Sabah Arbilli. The Baroness continued to say “ it is projects like this which make a real difference to communities “

The Baroness commissioned Shahida Ahmed to do a whirling dervish painting for her residence.