To Australia with love, J&K Police constable’s portraits from heart

Constable Ishfaq Ali (R) and (left) his sketch of Don Bradman.

His choice of drawing material changes with the season. For this time of the year, he prefers acrylic on canvas. The time he takes to finish a portrait depends on his “mood”, he says — sometimes two or three days, sometimes just one day.

Over the past month, Jammu & Kashmir Police constable Ishfaq Ali has been sketching portraits of former Prime Ministers of Australia for an exhibition at the residence of the Australian High Commissioner in New Delhi.

Ishfaq Ali’s talent was discovered by officials this April when his sketch of the former J&K Chief Minister and founder of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, impressed several people in the government.

Amitabh Mattoo, Honorary Director of the Australia India Institute in Delhi and Advisor to the J&K government, sent Ishfaq a picture of Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia (three terms between 1903 and 1910), to sketch. The results were impressive enough for the Australian High Commission to commission portraits of seven other Prime Ministers — including Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (1939-41 and 1949-66) and Sir John McEwen (1967-68) — along with one of Sir Donald Bradman, for the exhibition.

“I start with sketching the eyes,” the 31 year-old artist told The Indian Express. “That’s where the character of the person is held. If you get the eyes right, the rest of the portrait grows around it.” From the eyes, Ishfaq goes on to sketch the nose and lips, and completes the portrait with the frame of the face.

Ishfaq joined the J&K Police as a constable in 2011 after obtaining a Bachelors in Fine Arts at the University of Kashmir in Srinagar. He belongs to a family of artists, and grew up “surrounded by colours”, Ishfaq said. “My father is a papier-mâché artist. So there were always colours around me and I was encouraged to find my own style. I find portraits very powerful and I try and make them as realistic as possible.”

Papier-mâché art uses poster or fabric colours, and Ishfaq learnt to use those on a range of materials, using the paintbrushes in his father’s workshop. His brother Feroz practises the same craft as his father.

Ishfaq, who is currently posted in Budgam district, finds time to sketch portraits in between, and after, his two daily three-hour shifts. Since it is difficult to get living human subjects — “no one has the time or the patience to sit for that long” — he works with photographs. He also has a grudge: “Often, when I tell people I paint, I get treated as a wall painter. I cannot explain to them that I am an artist.”

Ishfaq works on about 50-60 portraits in a year, earning approximately Rs 5,000 for each. “I hope to make this my permanent profession,” he says, because, “unlike in the spoken or written word”, this is where his feelings are able to find expression.

“Art has an ability to cut through the barriers of geography, language and culture to connect communities. The exhibition of Australian Prime Ministers in the 20th Century by Indian Kashmiri artist Ishfaq Ali is a great way to show the affinity between India and Australia. It’s a window into Australia’s past through another’s eyes and underscores the deep fascination we have for each other’s history,” said Harinder Sidhu, the Australian High Commissioner to India.

The exhibition is scheduled to be held on Monday, and will be Ishfaq’s first outside J&K. “I have done calligraphy exhibitions before this, but this is my first portrait exhibition. I could not be more excited,” he says, adding that he is ready pursue his creative interests beyond Kashmir, now that he has a “head start”.