People
Amrit & Rabindra Kaur Singh Appointed Members of The Order of The British Empire
NEWS REPORT
World-renowned artists Amrit Kaur Singh and Rabindra Kaur Singh - popularly known as The Singh Twins - of the United Kingdom have been appointed Members of The Order of The British Empire by Queen Elizabeth.
They are the creators of, inter alia, "Nineteen-Eighty-Four", the iconic painting of Indira Gandhi's criminal army assault on the Darbar Sahib in June 1984.
Speaking about the honour, The Twins said:
"It came as a complete surprise but we are absolutely delighted to have been awarded an MBE for our work - not only because it's a great honour, but because, from the outset, it's been a real struggle to gain acceptance for a traditional and non-European art style within the mainstream. Last year, our solo exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery represented a significant landmark in this respect and it's a great feeling of achievement to receive additional recognition at such a high level. We hope that this recognition for services to the Indian Miniature Tradition will encourage other artists to remain true to their creative instincts and not succumb to the kind of pressure we felt to conform to the dictates of the Contemporary Art Establishment.
"The award comes at a particularly important time for us in our current role as one of the five official Ambassadors for our home city of Liverpool's Decade of Health and Wellbeing as we feel that it can only help us to further our aims as artists in this initiative - to promote the importance and value of art and culture to health and wellbeing."
A total of eight Sikh-Britons have been named as part this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List. The complete list of the eight honorees is as follows:
OBE - Officer of The Order of The British Empire
Rajinder Kaur Mann. For services to Black and Minority Ethnic People. (West Midlands)
Kuldip Singh Rupra. For services to Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in the East of England. (Bedford, Bedfordshire)
Dr Kanwaljit Kaur Singh. Chair, British Sikh Educational Council. For services to Education and to Inter-Faith Understanding. (London, SW19)
MBE- Member of The Order of The British Empire
Gurcharan Singh Dhesi. Sergeant, Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary. For services to the Police. (Kent)
Kamaljit Kaur. For services to Equal Opportunities for Asian Women. (London, UB2)
Parvinder Singh Lalli. Executive Officer, Jobcentre Plus, Department for Work and Pensions. (Gravesend, Kent)
Amrit Kaur Singh. Artist. For services to the Indian Miniature Tradition of Painting. (Birkenhead, Merseyside)
Rabindra Kaur Singh. Artist. For services to the Indian Miniature Tradition of Painting. (Birkenhead, Merseyside)
June 11, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Inni Kaur (Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.), June 11, 2011, 9:20 AM.
Congratulations to all the newly appointed members!
2: I.J. Singh (New York, U.S.A.), June 11, 2011, 1:16 PM.
Congratulations to all the honorees and particularly to the Twin sisters. A well deserved award of recognition. All the best.
3: Kanwal Prakash Singh (Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.), June 12, 2011, 7:17 AM.
Congratulations on being awarded well-deserved MBEs. We are proud to know you and celebrate your creativity and immense sense of history, culture, time and place. Your fabulously rich artwork stretches our imagination, raises our awareness and conscience, uplifts our spirit that radiates from your artwork. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world and for your generosity of spirit and your daring us to look at your art as a rich tapestry of what makes our environment exciting and fascinating. We salute your being ambassadors and messengers of the power and beauty of art as a transforming human experience. We join your legions of admirers in sending our good wishes to you both, the world's beloved Twins, and to all other recipients of the MBE this year. May Satguru bless you both and your continued efforts to create things of beauty and elevate our awareness of its meaning and our collective responsibility to human dignity as embodied in your celebrated painting, "1984". Thank you for your daring and moving portrayal of the Sikh genocide at the holiest Darbar Sahib. That painting will move many, like Picasso's Guernica, in the ages to come.
4: Simran (Oceanside, California, U.S.A.), June 12, 2011, 4:53 PM.
Congratulations! We are proud of you.
5: Baljit Singh Rihal, JP (London, United Kingdom), June 13, 2011, 8:56 AM.
Heartiest congratulations to all those that received the honours, especially the Singh Twins!
6: Khushwant Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 13, 2011, 10:24 PM.
Heartiest congratulations to these two wonderful human beings. Allow me to add that the cover of my new book 'Turbaned Tornado: Fauja Singh Oldest Marathon Runner', is a painting by the Twins. Called "ENtwined", from the Museum of London collection, the Twins were gracious to allow me to use their painting for the book cover. Thank you, Amrit and Rabindra, for being such wonderful friends.