Saleem is an artist and curator who has been practising art since the 1960s to this day. Saleem was born in Hyderabad, India in 1949 and came to England in May 1966. He went on to study at the Birmingham College of Art, 1969-1972, which was ‘a baptism of fire’ in self-discovery and then at the Royal College of Art, 1972-1975, London, which cemented his vocation as an artist. He explores various media for his visual concepts including painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, Sculpture, Books, Design and Drawing.

On graduating in 1975, he returned to India to rediscover the country he had known as a child. In the following years, he travelled widely in North Africa, Europe and the Asian sub-continent, his work fusing and assimilating the influences of Eastern and Western cultures, including his own Indian and Islamic background. 

He has also partaken in various curatorial projects and co-curated works relating to arts from the Indian subcontinent. His work has also been showcased at various prestigious galleries including The Serpentine Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery and The Hayward Gallery, with some of his work being inaugurated into the Tate collection. 

His work has been heavily influenced by his parents, including his mother who was an amateur painter. On June 14th, 2008, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, he was honoured with an MBE, for “Services to the Arts”.