3. Sanjeev Kohli

  • Launches Thursday 5th March, 6-8pm Call & Response continues in 2026 with its third participant, Sanjeev Kohli, one of Scotland's...

    Launches Thursday 5th March, 6-8pm

     
    Call & Response continues in 2026 with its third participant, Sanjeev Kohli, one of Scotland's most recogniseable cultural figures. 
     
    Sanjeev Kohli’s print ‘St.Parduman of Glasow’ is a digital image with additional screenprinted elements in gold. The work was generated from an initial idea of Sanjeev’s focussing on his late father, Parduman Singh Kohli, and what it means to be Glaswegian and “belong” to the city that his father came to call home. The image was generated via collaboration between Sanjeev Kohli and GPS Master Printer Murray Robertson. Sanjeev supplied the original concept, photographs and scans providing the framework for the creation of a collage of images that are carefully layered and fused together by Murray to present the original idea in a coherent form. 
  • Sanjeev's father was well loved and respected, a fundamental part of the local community and Sanjeev recalls how touched he...
    Sanjeev's father was well loved and respected, a fundamental part of the local community and Sanjeev recalls how touched he was at hearing his dad described as "an adopted son of Glasgow” at his funeral in 2024. He felt that he would like to make a print that honoured people choosing to become part of Scotland and the value and love they engender, as a counterbalance to the rise of racism, misunderstanding and hatred that is increasingly endemic in our current society.
  • Best known for his role as shopkeeper Navid Harrid in the BBC’s award-winning sitcom Still Game, which ran for nine...

    Best known for his role as shopkeeper Navid Harrid in the BBC’s award-winning sitcom Still Game, which ran for nine series and three sold-out live shows at Glasgow’s Hydro, Sanjeev was co-writer and co-star of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 comedy Fags, Mags and Bags, and has written for Chewin’ the Fat and Goodness Gracious Me. His screen credits include River City, Avenue 5, The Rig, Magpie Murders, and Department Q for Netflix. Born in London and raised in Glasgow to Sikh parents who moved from India in the 1960s, Kohli often draws on his experience as a proud “Glaswasian” in his work. He holds a first-class degree in Mathematics from the University of Glasgow.

  • Sanjeev was keen to echo the format of a traditional icon which would resonate with the image and iconography of both the city and its patron St. Mungo. The “I Belong to Glasgow” notion which binds all the elements of the image together is delivered in both English (the script is from the original 1920 Will Fyffe songsheet) and Punjabi in both the original and English delineations. 

    All elements within the image are carefully chosen and aim to reflect Kohli’s original concept. The robes reflect those from a traditional icon and also those from Mughal paintings of the 17th C detailed with an antique Paisley pattern.

    The symbols from the city’s coat of arms representing the life and legends of St. Mungo including the bird, the bell, the fish and the tree are all represented. Also synonymous to Glasgow, the sandstone tenement gable-end was used as an effective backdrop reflecting both the city and the traditional icon format.