Anah Iqbal ’11 Interview by – Ruhani Verma, Class of 2023 Anah Iqbal, Class of 2011, shares with us about her journey, influences and Woodstock experiences that helped her become an artist. Anah is the creative director at Muse Global India and has accomplished many milestones as an artist, such as having her artworks sold to Paula Wallace, Alex Kuruvilla and Subhashini Ali, and worked along with Subodh Gupta in his studio. As the creative director at Muse Global India, Anah has had the opportunity to work on different projects, such as the Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya and the Prime Minister’s Museum, New Delhi. Read more below. keep it as clean and give you the least naughty ones. My favourite memories of the school are of course related to all the activities involving my friends/boarder of the time. Going to the Bazzar on the weekends, being on the school team, being as hands on as possible in open houses/extracurricular activities, big brother big sister day, sports day, trying to not get caught on the lovers lane after hours etc.
What inspired you to be an artist?
What brought you to Woodstock? On the recommendation of an WS Alumni my parents and I, with my sister Fayza Iqbal (Class of 2013), took a trip up to Mussoorie for a campus visit. The first memories of our visit to Woodstock Campus is filled with Mussoorie’s marvellous Monsoons. Being engulfed in clouds, breathing in the beautiful fauna, running up to Edgehill to not get drenched in the downpour all, meeting Mrs. Mark, were deciding factors of my application for Woodstock. After the campus tour, my excited little self just remembers meeting with Mrs. Mark and giving my entrance exams/ interview. The dizzying ride up and down from Woodstock School was then a permanent part of my life for the next 8 years.
What are some of your favourite memories of Woodstock? How do I even choose some! I will have to
I had never thought I would choose the artist life for myself. My Mom and my Naani Jaan (Grandma) being fabulous artist themselves, gave me a sense of what creativity is, from an early age. Joining Woodstock and growing up around so many amazing minds allowed me to explore the multifaceted ways creativity can be used. Throughout my Woodstock life, I was naturally drawn to things that could be done differently or outside of the classroom. I would excel in math only when geometry was being taught, I would excel on timed exams only if my notes were full of biologically correct drawings, my chemical balancing would only make sense to me if my friends colour coded them to help me study. I believe my parents, my environment in Woodstock, the correlation of my brains retaining powers when the arts were involved, is what inspired me to be an artist.
What role did Woodstock play in who you are as an artist? Woodstock unlike my previous schools made sure it had a rigid yet explorative system of education. The rigid allowed this creative mind to write essays and do the research before putting my name on a piece of artwork. The explorative side of Woodstock let
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