When Jaskirt Dhaliwal first started her project of photographing British Asian Musicians in places of importance/inspiration to them, she didn’t imagine it would become as big as it did. By documenting the achievements of British Asians including H-Dhami, Neeta, Niraj Chag, and Sara of Trickbaby she is also documenting her own personal cultural history. “Right from Bally Sagoo and Apache Indian in the 90s to H Dhami and MIA right now, British Asian musicians have reflected or represented the culture and identity of British Asians, giving them a voice or something to relate too.”

“Having had the opportunity to see what has inspired and played a real significance in the lives of all the musicians and then to try and capture that spirit on film has been both a privilege and a thrill.”

Dhaliwal is a visual artist and photographer previously exhibiting at the NEC, UN Headquarters in New York and AOP’s London Gallery and previously won the Photo Imaging Council Award in 2006/07 for Women’s Football work.

Her aspirations for this project are both high and plausible, “I hope to document this work into a book eventually so in 20, 50 or 100 years time it will be used as a primary source of information on the history of British Asian musicians.” Hopefully continuing to expand beyond her expectations, this exhibition is one of trending popular music as well as the influence of cultural heritage and how effective that is in creating an musical identity.

See her work until the 28th August at The Drum, Aston, Birmingham.