being qaali

You have touched upon your work being emotioanlly driven. How did you overcome emotional downers, obstacles that you were faced with or criticisms.

During the month of Ramadan I got really ill and I had like 2 hours of energy each day and it was either read the Quran or create this visual content. It was really hard for me spiritually and creatively because I love my art but I had other goals that I needed to accomplish while I was accomplishing this 365 day challenge. So I still continued creating but it wasn’t to the extent of things that I wanted to because I didn’t have any energy to do it.

There were points throughout the year where I had creative lows and it wasn’t really creative lows, it was that I was overly stressed from other aspects of my life. With my art it’s something that always brings me back to centre. A lot of times it was just about getting started. It took me moving to Somalia to start creating again, I had been on a 10-year hiatus, I wasn’t creating anything. It was just about getting started, putting my paintbrush on the canvas, it was simply that. On those days where I wasn’t sure about what I was going to create, those were some of my greatest creations.

I did have some family members who were not supportive of what I was doing and one was living at home with me. I had this set time where I would create and everytime I was creating they would tell me ‘you’re wasting your time, you could do other things that are more conduceive to your time’. So I was just constantly dealing with that and I just have to remind myself that I am doing this for me and not anyone else so it doesn’t really matter what anyone thinks about what I am doing with my time.

It’s really important that you’re self-assured and grounded in who you are because a lot of people would get dissuaded by that and repress what they really want to do because people are criticising them or telling them what to do.

And that’s when you know you’re on the right path when someone is completely against what you’re doing. So you need to continue moving forward. If anything it’s more motivation but if you’re constantly being exposed to that toxicity it really can affect your mental space so I’ve learnt to not create in those spaces. Adjusting my environment into healthy one and that’s my rule.

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Day 100 of 365 . . . Today has been a journey of percerverance. Let me take you through my 100th day of my 365 art challenge. . I left the house at 5:30 am to hike and interview with @hodantv and @xillojanno. We got our workout in and talked about what I'm doing in Somalia and how I wish I came sooner. I have a deep respect for those in the news and film industry. So much work goes into production. FYI Hodan is a whole production team..sister is fierce. We wrapped up our session with breakfast. . I then joined my family for a quick trip to a local farm. I thought it would be a great idea for me to indulge in nature to mentally prepare my self for my intense painting session. On our way to the farm our car got stuck in the middle of nowhere. I was on all fours digging our tire out when a car spotted us and came our way. They tried to help out but our tire dug it's way deeper into the dirt. They had a meeting they couldn't miss and left us. Less than 5 minutes later they came back with an army of men. These guys literally lifted the back end of our car freeing it from the hole. They even drove us to the farm. Experiences like this are why I love Somalia. May Allah bless the men that rescued us. . The farm was beautiful! But the sun was relentless. I was feeling lethargic and felt heat exhaustion coming on. Watermelon juice, lunch and a nap served me well. . I was fatigued while painting today but I refused to allow this to prevent me from accomplishing my goal. This 365 challenge has allowed me to overcome my desires and GET SHIT DONE! Alhamdulillah I finished this painting a few minutes short of Midnight.

A post shared by Social Media Distancing (@shukrijanagale) on Apr 10, 2019 at 2:03pm PDT

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