Feeling inspired by a painting his father bought, Abdul decided to learn to paint. He started with pencil art and then took to calligraphy. Today, he travels to different cities around the world to exhibit his artwork and inspire other artists.

Abdul Kareem is a freelance calligraphy artist. He has been doing calligraphy for the past twenty years now.

Abdul hails from Malappuram, a city in Kerala.

Abdul worked with an American company before taking to freelance calligraphy full-time. He travels to different cities to showcase his calligraphy and graffiti skills. He has lived in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and is currently living in Qatar.

Abdul shares that a painting that his father bought from a street artist made him interested in art. He says he would do pencil art and started learning calligraphy when one of his friends suggested it to him. He even joined The School of Arts in Calicut to study art but had to drop out of it as his father could not bear the fee. Then, he started learning art from an artist named Ali.

Thereafter, Abdul went to Saudi Arabia to showcase his calligraphy skills and also learned Arabic Calligraphy there for the three years he stayed there. Then he moved to the UAE and worked there as an illustrator. After that, he moved to Qatar and there he founded his own art gallery and a community space for calligraphy artists named ‘Kagrart’.

Abdul advises people never to doubt themselves and just keep doing what they do and they will surely achieve success in that eventually.  Besides, he advises them to keep showing their talent to people.

Talking about his achievements, Abdul says that being able to found a community space for like-minded calligraphy artists is an achievement for him.

Abdul thinks that life is all about happiness and if you derive your happiness from doing your work then you can become successful too.

To aspiring calligraphy artists, Abdul advises them never to doubt themselves. Besides, he advises them to meet other artists and learn from them.

When asked about his role models, Abdul says that his father is his first and foremost inspiration and mentor. Besides, his friend, Naushad, who inspired him to become a calligraphy artist, is also a role model to him.