With a denigration of morality and spirituality in our society, and beyond, a Central Trinidad teacher is using her artistry skill and creativity to bring back sanity through her works of art. Navita Siddiqah Hanooman, a Sociology lecturer at Upper Level Educational Institute in Chaguanas has begun the trek. "Even though it may seem daunting, but I will succeed in my journey as I use the teachings of Islam to reach this goal," she said. "The purpose of my works of art is to remember, obey, praise and spread the teachings of Allah through the Prophet Muhammad. There is not even a hair's line separation between my love for Islam and my love for art. They are both combined and inseparable. There is no difference," she said, as her deep sense of spirituality radiated through her already charming personality."
Hanooman recalled the beginning of her quest to reach the pinnacle in art at the age of 11."At this age, I started to draw and paint, and since then there has been no turning back...for me the sky is the limit in this field of endeavour. "The only formal training I have had was to prepare for the subject of Visual Arts at the CXC level. "I use Arabic words that praise Allah, and this is interspersed with an abstract background. Each piece of art has a special spiritual message. "We need to return to serious works in art and this would certainly help to bring an aura of peace, brotherhood and harmony, away from the decadence in which we are fully engulfed," the graduate of the University of the West Indies with a Bachelor's degree in Education added. "Even though the world society is fully digitalised through computer, IT, Broadband and other information paraphernalla, the works of the masters over the many centuries continue to excite, inspire and offer new messages about human existence and life as we know it," she noted. "I would like to spur, and encourage our young people to seek refuge in the works of art...to study the works of our great masters as this could serve as an encouragement to return to our original moorings in relations to our parents, our peers and our society as whole," she said.
She is prepared to work with anyone interested in the promotion of art as a career and as a medium to develop their own personality. "This assignment we must give ourselves and we must not shirk from it and help develop a formidable arts body in Trinidad and Tobago. "The world comes to our Carnival. They must come here as well for our works of art and creativity," Hanooman added.