Today we’d like to introduce you to Dilrani Kaur.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dilrani. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
So recently, since around July, I decided to completely re-brand from “Dilusionall” to “Dilrani Kaur.” For a number of reasons but the main being that I didn’t feel that “Dilusionall” represented me as an artist and where I want to take my art and how I want it to grow.
So my painting, art, and ideas all started and developed from my love for Indian classical music and dance. I grew up heavily involved in the music and dance circle but often struggled to connect with those who didn’t understand that part of me and felt that I had a split character – the classical artist “Dilrani” and the more relatable “Dilrani” who could be easily understood, accepted and integrated with others.
From here, I created “Dilusionall” – It almost felt like this character that allowed me to be both and here I would create animals (easily relatable subjects) and fill them with intricate mehndi/henna-like designs (the not so relatable part).
However, I changed from “Dilusionall” to “Dilrani Kaur” as I no longer felt that I needed this character to hide behind, as I am who I am and I feel it’s totally okay not to fit in and don’t need to change or hide anything about you in order to be accepted. However, I understand the fact that many people are also struggling with this and I hope to spread more awareness on this subject using my art and story.
So now I create work to aesthetically please the eye yet also keep both my worlds intact showing exactly who I am, however with this I am also trying to spread positivity, equality, and strength to those who may be struggling with similar battles.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There were quite a few struggles that I had to face, one of the main being having to deal with people within my community not understand why ‘art’ is something that I decided to focus on as a career rather than a hobby.
However, it’s not been something that’s had any negative effect on me as my husband and my family have been so supportive and always try to encourage me to go further and deeper into my art ventures.
I think that’s one of the most important things that I’ve learned, not letting the opinion of others put you down or stop you from doing what you love and what motivates you.
Dilrani Kaur – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
It started off as just a creative outlet for me to draw and paint my thoughts and feelings, but over the years it’s grown to where I now paint and sell products such as sneakers, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jewelry, and bags. The foundation of my art is still the same, which is to spread equality and positivity yet also share worldly matters that I hold dear to my heart such as self-love, environmental, race, gender and religion issues.
I think as a company I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve stayed true to what I set out to do as well as single-handedly managing my business from the creative process, product design, to social media, managing my online store and everything in-between.
If I had to choose something that I felt set me apart from others, I’d probably say that my designs are 100% hand painted. Most artists today are leaning more towards digital illustrations, which is beautiful in its own way, however for me, there is something so beautiful in knowing that every stroke that’s made can’t be undone with a click of a button.
That and my style of merging together different genres to create something relatable yet new. For example, merging Persian illumination style art with vivid colours and Indian dance hand gestures or Indian miniature Mughal art with Sagyeong, an ancient Korean painting style.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
Oh gosh, there are so many!! Making snow people with my brother in our tiny little backyard during the winter’s in England and washing our rugs outside during the summer. We actually have family videos of my brother and I having so much fun doing such simple things like washing a rug in the middle of summer whilst wearing winter snow boots so our feet wouldn’t get wet!
Being born and raised in England, as a family, we traveled a lot, as it was easier to travel all over Europe, India and some places in Africa. I think because we traveled so much as kids that it opened up our minds and made us happier, accepting and more content with what we had and who we were.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DilraniKaur.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilranikaur/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DilraniK/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dilranikaur?lang=en
- Other: http://dilranikaur.tumblr.com
Image Credit:
Shahrukh Taj @Tajgold
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