“Whether you’re a Christian or a Muslim or you’re a Jewish person or a Hindu or whatever, we are all under the same god. What is the point of all that is dividing us? There is a lot more that is common amongst us. There is no god but GOD – everything else is sort of superfluous."

West Watford artist Siddiqa Juma specialises in contemporary Islamic art, painted in acrylics on canvas, and is one of a select few to have been chosen to feature in Spirit of Womanhood, a ground-breaking exhibition of artwork, supported by Tracey Emin CBE and Cherie Blair CBE, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Women’s Interfaith Network.

“I was very pleased, it’s rather lovely,“ says the 51-year-old, who came to the UK from Zanzibar with her family when she was 17. “I’m completely floored! I’m just so excited to be exhibiting in the same place as such renowned artists as Tracey Emin.“

Siddiqa’a work was selected from more than 2,000 entries by a panel of leading arts figures from the Victoria & Albert Museum, Sotheby’s, White Cube and the Royal College of Art.

“I’m very much a British Muslim, not one or the other, so my work is very much what young, professional British Muslims like,“ Siddiqa says. “I wanted to have art on my walls that spoke something about who I am.“

Siddiqa ‘s family first lived in Wembley when they arrived in the UK, and then moved to Watford, where Siddiqa joined the Watford School of Art, now closed, to study graphic art, and has made her living from her art ever since.

Three of her paintings may make it into the exhibition – she submitted one piece of art from each of the three main series that she paints, one to do with the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, one to do with diversity, and the third a series entitled Ayat-ul-Kursi (There is no god but GOD).

“I’m fascinated by the Kaaba and the pilgrimage to Mecca,“ says Siddiqa.

“To me, it says multiculturalism, it says equality. It’s the only place in the world where it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, black or white, tall or short, you stand shoulder-to-shoulder and you don’t know what the guy next to you is, he could be a prince, you’re all the same.“

  • Spirit of Womanhood Exhibition is at gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank from Thursday, March 20 to Sunday, March 30. Details: win-exhibition.org.uk