Since 1992, the year Salma decided to pursue art as a career, she has dedicated her craft and the proceeds that have been generated from her works to better the community at large. During the past 30 years Salma has been able to donate numerous pieces of visual art and sell an extensive amount of her work, which has risen to over a quarter of a million dollars for countless foundations, charities and development networks.

Although painting and ceramics started as a hobby for Salma, she was able to connect with the community very quickly on many different levels through her art. It started with humble beginnings, showing her work in community centres and driveway shows, but commissions and gallery exhibitions quickly replaced modest beginnings when her art started to resonate with the general population. She connected at first through her Islamic calligraphy and the message of peace and serenity that it brought, and then enlightened Alberta’s nature lovers with works of the Rockies and picturesque landscapes around the province.

Mastering oil, watercolour and mixed media works allowed her to take the leap with her first large-scale show at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, which helped the Foundation at the hospital raise over twenty thousand dollars. This philanthropy sparked something in Salma and she followed up this show with raising over ten thousand dollars for the Tom Baker Cancer Centre with a week-long gallery that was held at the centre that focused on Children of the World: Ethnicities that reside in Alberta. It was through exhibitions such as this that Salma brought people within the community together to celebrate a pluralistic society and the strength that resides within this pluralism.

Since that time, Salma has continued to pursue art as a career not for personal material wellbeing but rather at-large charitable wellbeing. Every year she sells countless works and calendars that have helped raise over 150,000 dollars, which has gone directly to the Aga Khan Foundation, a foundation committed to tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality.  Furthermore, through her visual art, she has aided organizations such as the United Way of Alberta, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Alberta, Make-A-Wish Foundation (Alberta Chapter) and even recently the Multi Generational Housing and Community Centre in Northeast Calgary, a campus that was designed as a long-term care facility towards the most frail and vulnerable in the ageing population.

Salma Jadavji exemplifies what a distinguished artist looks like. She likes to challenge herself and paints in several mediums with a focus on all subjects. Her future plans are to take her passion for art and hopefully share her knowledge and skill set by teaching art, especially Islamic calligraphy, to adults and kids.