Delhi painted on Johnnie Walker bottles with pollution ink by artist Shilo Shiv Suleman

I am pretty careful about my brand associations. I am an independent artist and quite rebellious. My work is quite radical so you won’t necessarily see me working for any brand. I think it is interesting as a woman to be working with a company that makes whiskey because it’s usually a masculine association, but I see the feminine in the liquid gold. Also, it was quite interesting to be able to make pollution into beauty. I feel my art practice is very much rooted in alchemy — it is about transforming fear, pain, darkness, hopelessness into light, love, imagination and creativity. I think using ink that’s literally been pulled out of smog to make something beautiful is quite alchemical in its own way.

Can you tell us how you have sought inspiration from Delhi and incorporated it into your artwork?

Apart from being the capital of the country, Delhi is also home to multiple interpretations and layers of civilisations that formed the identity that is India currently. Out of all the major cities in India, I think Delhi has a certain charm and romance. When one thinks of Delhi nowadays, unfortunately what also comes to mind is air pollution. As artists, we have the responsibility to rewrite the narrative so that public behaviour also shifts. I believe the stories we tell really dictate the way that the public interacts and relates with that city. With Delhi, I wanted to rewrite the narrative literally using pollution through Air Ink to be able to remember the magic, the romance and the dreamlike quality that Delhi also has.

The image itself is an ode to the monuments of the city, particularly in the old city where you can see the tombs and mausoleums rising out of the fog in the mornings. That part of the illustration points at the history, charm and elegance of these beautiful monuments. There is a hint at the past, but also a reclamation of the future because the other popular narrative about Delhi is that it is unsafe for women. Through my illustration, I have tried to imagine what it would feel like as a woman to be able to walk through the streets of the city and meander through the old gullies without any fear. The illustration is of women walking through the curving streets with monuments rising out of the fog. It speaks to both the past we carry with us and the future we can create.

How was it to use the medium of Air-Ink?

I have a studio inside of Hawa Mahal in Jaipur where a lot of the work I do is about looking at traditional forms of paint-making. Some of the natural pigments one used to get was paint made from crushed rubies and lapis lazuli. It is kind of interesting that even with pollution there is the capacity to be able to transform it into something which can then be beautiful. It is the responsibility of artists that we need to be able to alchemise and create beauty, no matter what is given to us.

Can you tell us how your journey has been as an artist and as an entrepreneur?

As an independent artist I work with multiple mediums including paintings, installations and sculptures. More recently, I sold an installation at Sotheby’s for $57,000. It’s been very interesting with my personal practice to be able to work in such intimate ways with my own creative universe. Having said that, there is also something to be said about being a young woman who is working on an entrepreneurial level as well. I really want to encourage young women to see art as something that is incredibly viable. What is interesting is to note that the ethereal, magical and intimate world of art can exist but also have the drive to be an entrepreneur and do things that have a monetary value associated with them. I found that in my personal journey as an artist. It is important to keep that magical world alive while recognising the power that comes with being a young female entrepreneur.