How everyday Kerala is being reimagined in an award-nominated illustration series

Mohammed Sajid's ongoing illustration series, Folks of Kerala, celebrates the invisible fragments of his homeland — the conveniently overlooked yet unavoidable characters who populate Kerala's municipality spaces. From angiosperm sellers and food hawkers to information guards and thoroughfare sweepers, the subjects successful the Bengaluru-based artist's works, regard intently astatine the viewer.

They are surrounded by the objects, scents, words and tools that specify their mundane lives. Rather than allowing them to slice into the background, Sajid gives them names, identities and stories.

The 2nd variation of the bid is presently successful contention for the AOI World Illustration Awards 2026, 1 of the world's astir prestigious illustration competitions. It features 8 portraits: a chai maker, information guard, tailor, thoroughfare sweeper, food seller, coir worker, postman and angiosperm seller.

Born retired of what Sajid describes arsenic “homesickness”, spotlights radical helium encountered each time but seldom paid adjacent attraction to. After graduating successful Design and Applied Arts from the College of Fine Arts Kerala successful Thiruvananthapuram successful 2015, helium moved to Bengaluru. The transition, and the gait of municipality life, prompted him to look much intimately astatine the communities helium had near behind.

“I felt radical successful Bengaluru were hesitant to smile. Even erstwhile they did, it felt different,” says Sajid, who hails from Perambra successful Kozhikode. “I grew up successful a assemblage wherever we knew everything astir our neighbours.”

The archetypal Folks of Kerala series, created successful 2018, drew heavy from Indian people aesthetics. Teal hues were utilized to picture tegument tones, and the portraits offered lone minimal contextual accusation done their settings. The 13-illustration bid emerged from Sajid's tendency to make thing "familiar yet unique". But the task besides near him creatively exhausted.

“I discontinued it due to the fact that of fatigue,” helium recalls.

The bid was revived successful 2025 with a much layered approach. “This time, I surrounded the subjects with objects and words associated with them. After completing the portraits, I gave them names and backstories. The colour palette and opposition are antithetic too,” helium says.

The newer works thin towards realism, peculiarly successful their depiction of dusky complexions and facial features. At the aforesaid time, they clasp a vibrant, popular art-inspired ocular language. The compositions are unapologetically maximalist, packed with typography, objects, gridlines and plan markings.

“The lines and dots were added arsenic a situation to AI to effort and replicate the benignant of enactment I do,” says Sajid. “Using AI to make creation successful our benignant is unacceptable to maine arsenic an artist. Some whitethorn spot these marks arsenic unsmooth work, but they are besides a motion to my grooming arsenic a plan student.”

Sajid is nary alien to high-profile illustration work. In 2019, helium designed Google's doodle marking histrion Madhubala's 84th commencement anniversary, depicting her iconic relation arsenic Anarkali successful Mughal-e-Azam (1960). For the artwork, helium reinterpreted the CMYK colour palette to evoke the ocular connection of the film's era.

The vibrancy of his work, helium says, is rooted successful Kerala itself.

“Growing up successful Kerala, temple festivals were explosions of colour. The lorries connected our roads, the posters astatine autobus stops, adjacent the illustrations beside autorickshaw fig plates — thing is subdued,” helium says.

His earliest creator influence, however, was overmuch person to home. “I retrieve colouring sessions with my parent erstwhile I was young. She would secretly sketch portraits of actors from mag covers, adjacent though our religion discouraged america from speechmaking them. There was also a mural successful my third-grade schoolroom — coconut trees, h2o bodies and a scenery — painted by her.”

Sajid jokes that helium became an creator aft realising subject was not his calling.

As for the adjacent summation to Folks of Kerala, helium is successful nary hurry. “I started making these works to interruption distant from the monotony of regular life,” helium says. “I don't privation to unit myself to make them. I'll marque them erstwhile I consciousness similar it.”

Mohammed Sajid’s works are shared connected his Instagram grip @muhammedsajid.n