This month we’ve been celebrating South Asian Heritage Month, sharing stories and portraits of pivotal members from the South Asian community across our channels. We caught up with the team behind South Asian Heritage Month to look to our Collection and share with us the sitters who resonate with them and why these stories need to be in the spotlight.
Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) - chosen by Ash Kotak, Playwright and Artistic Director of AIDS Memory UK
Freddie Mercury by Neal Preston, 1986 Photo by Neal Preston © Queen Productions Ltd
Farrokh Bulsara, aka Freddie Mercury, was born in 1946 on the British Protectorate of Zanzibar. He was a Gujarati speaking Parsi and his parents were from Bombay.
Post the 1964 revolution, and after Freddie had unexpectedly failed his exams at boarding school in India, his parents migrated to Britain. A thrilled Freddie had already become fascinated by the British rock/pop and counter-culture explosion. The new migrants were inspired to work hard to sustain Gujarati values, culture and traditions rather than integrate and lose their fought for identities.
Against the mould and to his parents' chagrin, Freddie explored his own path of being Indian, but British too. In the 1970s, he imaged himself as a Glam Rock fur, feathers, satin, leather, glitter, sequins, tight bell-bottoms, platform shoes, make-up wearing lead singer.
Sadly, due to the widespread racism against South Asians at the time of Queen's launch, a management demand was put on Freddie to 'hide it' as "being Indian did not sell records". As a result of all these contradictory and complex narratives, he has often been written out of British, South Asian history.
My new play Freddiebhai explores his untold Indian childhood and teen narratives, and his emerging sexuality against my own. My nan was Freddie’s Gujarati teacher and later ally; his mum was a close friend and neighbour. Our parents also jointly edited the Zanzibar Gujarati newspaper. I only learnt of our family relationship on the day he died of an AIDS defining illness. .
M.I.A (1975-) - chosen by Jasvir Singh OBE, Co-Founder of South Asian Heritage Month|
M.I.A (Mathangi ('Maya') Arulpragasam) by Neil Gavin, March 2005 © Neil Gavin
There’s a real sense of urgency and immediacy to this image of M.I.A. She is staring straight at the camera, strikingly confident and not shying away from the limelight, capturing her personality perfectly.
M.I.A’s relationship with Britain and South Asia is complex. Born in West London, her family moved to Sri Lanka at the age of 6 months and her father became a leading activist for an Eelam Tamil political group. Much of her childhood was impacted by the Sri Lankan Civil War, with her primary school being destroyed during the fighting. She finally returned to London a week before her 11th birthday as a refugee.
She went on to study at Central Saint Martins, embracing her identity as a Tamil Londoner, and exploring that through her art and filmmaking before turning to music. Her songs are an eclectic mix of genres, picking through the language and musical influences she has grown up with and giving it a global platform through songs such as Paper Planes and Jimmy. She remains a controversial figure within the music industry, provocative, outspoken, highly political and never dull.
Malala Yousafzai (1997-) - chosen by Jasvir Singh OBE, Co-Founder of South Asian Heritage Month
Malala Yousafzai by Shirin Neshat, 2018 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Malala Yousafzai’s work as an activist for female education in Pakistan resulted in a Taliban gunman attempting to murder her when she was on a bus home from school aged just 15 years old. The assassination attempt caused a global uproar, and Malala was transported by the Pakistani government from Peshawar to a hospital in Birmingham, UK whilst she was still in a coma in order to get her appropriate medical treatment.
She recovered from her coma and stayed in the hospital for 3 months before finally being allowed to leave, and her family made a home for themselves in Birmingham, where they have lived ever since. She went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, becoming the youngest ever Nobel laureate, and she continues to campaign for vulnerable people across the world.
I recently met Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, at an event. A former teacher himself, he told me just how proud he was of everything that his daughter has achieved, and this image really speaks of her courage and determination simply to be able to learn.
Syed Mohammad Hadi (1899-1971) - chosen by Mara Hafezi, Sports Co-Lead for South Asian Heritage Month
Syed Mohammad ('S.M.') Hadi by Bassano Ltd, 28 May 1929 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Being asked to choose a portrait from the National Portrait Gallery for South Asian Heritage Month is an honour. I chose the portrait of Syed Mohammad Hadi. He was one of the most gifted athletes India has seen, resulting in him acquiring the nickname “Rainbow Hadi” as he was so highly skilled in polo, chess, table tennis, football, cricket, hockey and tennis. His talent led to him representing India in not just one, but two sports: cricket and tennis.
In cricket, he is well known for his part in the Indian domestic first-class cricket championship, the Ranji Trophy, in which he scored 132 not out in his team’s score of 227, becoming the first ever centurion in the Ranji Trophy. He played at Wimbledon seven times, including in 1929, which is the year this portrait was taken. His ability to play such an array of sports at an elite level still outstands me. Even today, you get far few athletes who are all-rounded and at elite level. His passion for sports is incredibly admirable: Hadi was one of the founding members of the Hyderabad Football Association and Hyderabad Cricket Association. He also served as Director of Physical Education in Hyderabad.
Indarjit Singh, (Lord Singh of Wimbledon), (1932-) – chosen by Hardeep Singh, Deputy-Director, Network of Sikh Organisations
Indarjit Singh by Don McCullin, 7 September 2006 © Don McCullin / National Portrait Gallery, London
The portrait of Lord Singh of Wimbledon (at the time Dr Indarjit Singh) at Hounslow gurdwara with three granthis (Sikh priests) by Don McCullin for the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Faith and Church’ project stands out amongst the images of the other faith leaders. That’s because the other photographs were of individuals only, but Lord Singh chose to show that he is part of a broader community (sangat), which reflects the important and emphasis of sangat in Sikhism. In the image Lord Singh is seated on the floor, with the granthis standing behind him. It may not have been intentional on the part of McCullin at the time, but the image serves to capture the importance of humility in Sikhism, and despite Lord Singh’s de-facto leadership status amongst British Sikhs, is reflective of the dignity and humility of a man who was once described by a British diplomat, ‘as the man who brought Guru Nanak to the breakfast tables of Britain’, for his broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day.
Find out more about South Asian Heritage Month and how you can get involved here.
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