Romana Kassam on art, music and storytelling in the time of COVID-19

The Second Generation

While Romana made art her whole entire life, she didn’t make art her career until relatively recently. Romana shares that in her experience, arts and creativity weren’t always encouraged in South Asian households. Even as kids, art was something you did after you finished your math homework. So, she never thought of art as anything outside of a hobby for the longest time, until recently.

Romana’s journey to a career as a storyteller and artist was not a linear one. After completing an English degree in university, Romana first worked in the corporate world for almost a decade. Before doing art full time, Romana initially started a side gig called “My Mehndi Story” where she would do mehndi/henna in a way that would tell story of a couple’s love, for example, through adding song lyrics or city skylines into bridal mehndi. It took a while until she felt ready to delve into an arts career full-time.

Now, Romana identifies as a storyteller and does work throughout various mediums. What story is Romana trying to tell? She wants to “speak the truth about her people and her culture”.

In this episode, we talk about Romana’s journey into the arts, and how COVID-19 has impacted her and other artist’s work.

Make sure to check out Romana’s BEAUTIFUL new single, Holding Space. You can also follow Romana on Instagram @romanakassam.