These Kashmiri creatives want to show you new ways of looking at traditional Kashmiri art

In the film, Jalali and her eldest sister walk through the Rainawari neighbourhood of Srinagar, where their family’s old home once stood. They’re welcomed by surprised shopkeepers, delighted to see Madhulika all grown up. “Your love for your homeland has brought you back,” a mutton shop owner tells them. “There has been no difference in our love, just that we’ve grown old,” says another. Her sister breaks down.

The documentary, five years in the making, transformed Jalali. Today, she no longer reacts impulsively like she once did. She understands the importance of divergent opinions and the need to listen to all points of view. Some things, though, never change, like the meagre funding for documentaries. But the filmmaker is already firing up her next project about weddings in exile, which will pose the question to viewers: how does a bride leave her home after her wedding when she’s already lost her home in the first place?

Shahida Khanum. Photographed by Ruman Hamdani

For Shahida Khanum in the remote village of Aragam, becoming a bride didn’t change much. For one, she did not have to move into her husband’s home. Instead, at 25, she turned her father’s home into Noor Centre, where women come to learn the crafts unique to their Gujjar community. “When I was in school, we represented Kashmir at a tribal event in Madhya Pradesh. While other tribes wore traditional outfits, we were dressed in mismatched clothes. We hardly knew what our ancestors wore,” she says.