Reflections

'I grew up in Kashmir where the pace of life was very slow... I would spend my time reading second-hand copies of the English classics and admiring the seasons. My earliest memory of Kashmir is that of colour-all kinds of flowers, totally uncoordinated... I used to live in an imaginary world, had invisible friends-most of them gods and goddesses from Hindu mythology. My private tutors where Hindu Pundits and they would explain how the Himalayas were actually the home of Shiva and how every name of a mountain range, lake, glacier and village in Kashmir was named after a mythological figure or event. There were so many stories that would conjure up fantastic visions. The Kashmiri language itself is based on metaphors relating to ancient mythology.'

(Shaw, quoted in D. Rimanelli, 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,' Raqib Shaw, Garden of Earthly Delights, exh. cat., New York, 2005).