How everyday Kerala is being reimagined in an award-nominated illustration series

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Illustrations from the second Folks of Kerala series | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Mohammed Sajid's ongoing illustration series, Folks of Kerala, celebrates the invisible fragments of his homeland — the conveniently overlooked yet unavoidable characters who populate Kerala's urban spaces. From flower sellers and fish hawkers to security guards and street sweepers, the subjects in the Bengaluru-based artist's works, gaze intently at the viewer.

They are surrounded by the objects, scents, words and tools that define their everyday lives. Rather than allowing them to fade into the background, Sajid gives them names, identities and stories.

The second edition of the series is currently in contention for the AOI World Illustration Awards 2026, one of the world's most prestigious illustration competitions. It features eight portraits: a chai maker, security guard, tailor, street sweeper, fish seller, coir worker, postman and flower seller.

Born out of what Sajid describes as “homesickness”, spotlights people he encountered every day but rarely paid close attention to. After graduating in Design and Applied Arts from the College of Fine Arts Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram in 2015, he moved to Bengaluru. The transition, and the pace of urban life, prompted him to look more closely at the communities he had left behind.

Sreedharan – The Thread Whisperer from Folks of Kerala | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“I felt people in Bengaluru were hesitant to smile. Even when they did, it felt different,” says Sajid, who hails from Perambra in Kozhikode. “I grew up in a community where we knew everything about our neighbours.”

Maalukutty - The Street Sweeper from Folks of Kerala | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The first Folks of Kerala series, created in 2018, drew heavily from Indian folk aesthetics. Teal hues were used to depict skin tones, and the portraits offered only minimal contextual information through their settings. The 13-illustration series emerged from Sajid's desi