Lal Ded’s verses painted on Pashmina: Masood Hussain’s unique art peeks into Kashmir’s soul

(CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

“When I first saw a shawl, I was wondering how I would paint on it, because I’m used to paper and acrylic, or watercolours, and this is natural fibre,” Hussain tells The Indian Express. Finding the right colour and tonal variations of each colour, he says, took months.

The exhibition began as a conversation between Kadri and Hussain in December 2024 and involved two years of labour. (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

The exhibition began as a conversation between Kadri and Hussain in December 2024 and involved two years of labour.

Kadri, who has been in the pashmina business for 28 years, calls it “art for Kashmir”. “Everything here is so driven by the tourist market that sometimes we forget to interact with our own heritage, and what I wanted was to bring an artistic space to Kashmir for ourselves.”

Kadri, who has been in the pashmina business for 28 years, calls it “art for Kashmir”. “Everything here is so driven by the tourist market that sometimes we forget to interact with our own heritage, and what I wanted was to bring an artistic space to Kashmir for ourselves.” (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

At first glance, the pieces may look like just paintings on cloth, but move closer and touch the fabric, and you will marvel. You see the intricacy of the designs and the elaborate work that went into every motif, a Hussain trademark. It is then surprising that for Hussain, using fabric dyes to paint on Pashmina shawls — a technique earlier unheard of in the Valley — was a new lesson, at the age of 73.

Behind the pieces are Lal Ded’s vaakhs, providing a cultural reference that cuts across Kashmiri communities. Hussain studied the verses for a year before allowing his imagination to render them in colour. (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

Behind the pieces are Lal Ded’s vaakhs, providing a cultural reference that cuts across Kashmiri communities. Hussain studied the verses for a year before allowing his imagination to render them in colour. The translations of Autar Mota — who is credited with familiarising a wider audience with Lal Ded — helped shape this journey. In the decades before these translations, Lal Ded’s voice had been carried from one generation to another in the oral tradition, so much so that her vaakhs are now an integral part of Kashmir’s collective memory.

Hussain, who is most celebrated for his “transparent strokes”, which are said to reveal “the soul beneath the surface”, has been moving between watercolour, relief, mixed media, paper pulp, oil, and installation, but learning a new style of painting still required many attempts. (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

Possibly, one of Lal Ded’s own vaakhs (verses) best captures the exhibition: “Ko’sam baa’gas heut’ mai a’tsun/ Pa’tsi’yay man te a’tsun praa’v/ Swa roop dar’shun chu to’tuy a’tsun/ Koet chuy ga’sun pa’kun traav (I have prepared myself and entered the flower garden/ Should you wish it, make the mind fit, and you too may enter/ Within lies the direct beholding of one’s own essential form/ Hence, discern what is to be reached and quicken your going).”

While the inaugural exhibition took place in Srinagar, Kadri is also planning to take it outside the Valley now. (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

Hussain, who is most celebrated for his “transparent strokes”, which are said to reveal “the soul beneath the surface”, has been moving between watercolour, relief, mixed media, paper pulp, oil, and installation, but learning a new style of painting still required many attempts.

Spinning the pashmina thread takes about 40 days per shawl. The weaving takes nearly 15 days. Part of preparing the pashmina for dyeing, (CREDIT: SHUAIB MASOODI)

Spinning the pashmina thread takes about 40 days per shawl. The weaving takes nearly 15 days. Part of preparing the pashmina for dyeing, Hussain says, is coating it with a layer of glue, “after which, it becomes like paper”. The shawls are then steamed for hours before they can take the dyes — permanently.

While the inaugural exhibition took place in Srinagar, Kadri is also planning to take it outside the Valley now.