April 04, 2004

Copyright © The Indianapolis Star, April 18, 1995

His quick smile is as memorable as his distinctive turban and both are genuine expressions of a warm and deeply religious man whose talents, energy and good will have benefited Indianapolis for nearly three decades. It is appropriate that artist K.P. Singh will be honored today as the city’s International Citizen of the Year.

The award given by the International Center of Indianapolis, will be presented at luncheon celebration in partnership with the World Trade Club of Indiana and the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce’s trade conference.

Hendricks Conty Commissioner M. Richard Himsel presents President Ronald Reagan with a pen and ink drawing of the Hendricks County Landmarks signed by the artist, Kanwal Prakash Singh.

Singh’s exquisite drawings celebrate the history and architecture of sites and cities throughout the world, gracing many Indianapolis public lobbies, offices and homes. They are also displayed throughout the United States and 25 other countries.

The artist was 7 years old when his family fled India as their part of the nation became Pakistan and was “ethnically cleansed” of offending religious views. His father was a prominent teacher and scholar. But he was a Sikh.

"Tens of thousands were slaughtered in our hometown alone," Singh told the The Star’s Donna Mullinix for a profile of the artist published April 10.

His family was among the lucky ones that escaped. Singh later went to school in India and the University of Michigan before joining Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development in 1967 as senior planner.

His love of historic architecture led him to draw the city’s Union Station and that in turn helped the effort to save the building now restored from demolition. Friends urged him to sketch a series of other buildings and the work became so popular that he turned to such artwork full time.

He has been at it 23 years now and has become one of Indiana’s best known and most popular artists. Singh in his turban, which Mullinix described in her profile as “an absolute must for those of the Sikh faith” is a familiar sight not only at art shows but at other Indianapolis cultural, charity and civic events.

Singh has devoted much of his time to making this city and state a better place. As the founding Director of the International Center here he says he considers it a personal challenge “to make our considerable ethnic population more a part of the community.”

"Sikhs believe that everyone of us is part of the divine essence," he says.

His philosophy is reflected in a letter he wrote to The Star in 1994. It is said in part:

We are no longer an island unto ourselves. The world is at our doors and we are all partners of the vast human family. Therefore celebration, appreciation, respect and understanding of our diversity in a social, cultural or religious context take on a new meaning: a beautiful promise of greater harmony and peace among people in our great city.

The Star congratulates K.P. Singh as International Citizen of the Year 1995. The honor is well deserved.