Saira Hunjan

Highly influenced by her Indian heritage and frequent trips to the country, Saira Hunjan's work often depicts images of nature, animals, and goddess figures.  Her medium of choice is ink, which she has applied to both paper and skin; known internationally as the Girl with the Golden Needle, Saira came to prominence in a career as a tattooist whilst studying fine art. This experience helped her refine and transform her visual language for her creative practice. Inspired by a surrealist sensibility, Hunjan’s work celebrates the notoriously bleak notion of death similar to the reverence with which the Mexicans commemorate the end of life, comforted by sweet serenity and not overcome by fear or sadness. Her own cultural backdrop has a similarly tremendous and obvious influence in her work, whether through tattooing or by means of the elaborate altars and shrines that articulate a deeply rooted sense of mysticism.

In addition to her tattoo work and fine art drawings, Hunjan has been commissioned to conceive and execute a variety of extensive projects including murals and fashion collaborations.

—Courtesy of the Artist and Pertwee Anderson & Gold