Bhajan Hunjan

Bhajan always liked to make things. She grew up surrounded by people who used the materials around them in creative ways. The women in her family were very skilled. They spent their afternoons sewing clothes, knitting and embroidering.

One day Bhajan was sitting in the garden with her mum. The garden was full of plants, flowers and vegetables that her mum had planted especially for her children to enjoy. "Bhajan, this looks like good soil". Together they made a small pot moulding it with their hands. Bhajan felt calm and peaceful, almost like time was standing still.

Bhajan Kour Hunjan was born in 1956 in a town at the foot of Mount Kenya, called Nanyuki. She was part of a large Indian Sikh family who had moved from India to work in Kenya in 1933, when it was part of the British colonial empire. Nanyuki had European, Asian and African families living throughout the town. Bhajan's father ran a hardware shop right in the centre. Bhajan would sit amongst all the building materials, listening to all the visitors conversations in many languages including Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati Kiswahili, English and more.

At school Bhajan liked maths but she found English hard to understand. All the letters felt like a jumble of shapes She sometimes felt lost amongst the different languages, unsure of her voice. Bhajan's father wanted her to study accounting but he recognised his daughter's creativity.

So, when she was 18, with her family's love and support, Bhajan moved to the UK to study art. She arrived in autumn when it was cold and foggy - very different from sunny Kenya. Everything was different in England. The buildings, the landscape the weather.

She was one of only two artists of colour on her course. Bhajan noticed this and began to think about her history, culture and her place in the UK. In the library she poured over books, learning about the work of Frida Kahlo, the shapes of Georgia O'Keeffe and the materials of Barbara Hepworth.

But she missed home. The landscape of Nanyuki appeared in her artwork and the materials she used. Her prints and etchings grew full of organic shapes, swirling letters portraits of her family. Her artwork became a conversation with home. Working with clay, she remembered her mum in the garden digging up the good soil.

Bhajan's artwork grew bigger, becoming an extension of herself. Sitting on the floor she would draw huge shapes all around her, creating a place she could be fully immersed in.

Bhajan graduated from university and began to work as an artist. But it was difficult. Many Black and Asian artists weren't given the opportunity to show or make money from their artwork. Bhajan and her friends got around this by organising their own exhibitions She felt empowered in this community, surrounded by makers and activists. Bhajan was especially interested in showing the experiences of women like her, her mother and her sisters. Can you see the women looking at each other in this portrait like they're talking to each other?

Now, Bhajan also works as an artist educator bringing communities together in art workshops The ideas shared in these workshops are like little seeds being planted amongst the people taking part. These ideas grow into colourful public art pieces, covering the pavements and walls of hospitals schools, and playgrounds. Bhajan believes that life is made up of lots of little moments in time and making art allows time to stop still.