Go Green: Kashmir’s lone leaf artist paints hope

Srinagar: For years, Mudasir Rehman Dar has been making abstract paintings, which earned him recognition at the local and national level.

A resident of Kulpora in Kulgam district, he has been vocal about the conservation of the environment.

To ensure the mass reach of his environment campaign, the 28-year-old is making leaf portraits with utter perfection to compete with stalwarts in this genre.

“It hit my mind recently to make leaf portraits. So far, I made leaf portraits of famous personalities including Sir Mohammad Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Taresa, and others,” he said.

Dar said he doesn’t use colors except for green just to promote the message of conserving the environment.

“Leaf portrait is a contemporary art and very less people have expertise in this genre. I knew that this form of art has a vast reach and acceptance, so I practiced it to raise awareness among people regarding environment conservation,” he said.

Dar said he will showcase his painting on a bigger platform to attract more people to this mission.

“I want more people to join me in raising awareness about the environment. Art has a meaning when it is used for some constructive purpose. I will showcase all my recent work at a bigger stage so that my message reaches to maximum people,” he said.

Dar earlier rose to fame after creating the smallest painting of the Holy Kabba on a ring and a leaf, besides other extraordinary works in the field of art, while his work has been exhibited globally.

In 2020, Dar bagged the award for promoting art and culture. He has received many certificates for his outstanding artwork from time to time.

In 2021, he became the first person from the valley to feature in the Asian Book of Records and Indian Book of Records for his abstract art. Though he works on various themes, his main motive is to portray social evils through his artwork.

“Through my art, I raise issues including the menace of drug abuse, child labor, domestic abuse, and other social evils that exist in society,” he said.