Sahara Kassam’s artist name, “Shari,” is a family nickname. Originally from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, she knew she wanted to be an artist from a very young age, but her passion for the arts was not encouraged due to family circumstances.

Over the years, Shari self-studied art through books, videos/CDs, and online, exploring various mediums to create art. For drawings and sketches, she gravitates towards using graphite and charcoal pencils; she enjoys using acrylic and oil-based paints for her work on canvas. Only when Shari retired in 2016 did she seriously pursue art, attending workshops with amazing instructors and mentors. She feels that being guided by exceptional creatives, while listening deeply to the master of creation within, is an ongoing and profoundly fulfilling process.

Shari shares that she is more inclined towards portraiture when the subject is dear to her heart – either presently living or those gone beyond. Through creating art, she feels she can honour their presence and memory in her life. Inspiration for Shari comes from a wide variety of sources, such as museums, galleries, movies, watching other artists at work, walks in beautiful nature, animals, people, and her community. The divine resides within all, and she consciously looks for sparks of the creator’s inspiration in everything from the mundane to the fantastical.

Shari finds creating art relaxing and meditative, her wellbeing soothed with each stroke and layer of detail. She senses subtle energies that evoke emotions, giving her soul artistic permission to express itself and connect with the viewer. Her process involves an internal dialogue with the subject, benevolence, and the one she imagines will receive her work – a sense of harmony that she channels, allowing visions and imaginations to come alive with the essence of oneness.

Shari had her first art exhibition participation in the 2023 BC Arts Illume Art Gallery held on 24–27 August, 2023 at Richmond Jamatkhana, Vancouver, BC, Canada. She had her second art exhibition participation held at Jamatkhana Headquarters in North Vancouver on 8 September 2023.

What Shari cares about most as an artist, woman, wife, mother, grandmother, and human being is relationships, particularly those closest to her heart. This is consistently evident in her choice of subjects and the source of inspiration for her artwork. Shari combines her connection with those who uplift her with her reverence for nature’s healing power through different creative tools, energy work, and meditation.