BIO

My name is Shyam Nasira Persaud (pronounced sharm nas-eer-rah puh-sard) and I am an artist-producer.

I was born in London, UK, where I live and work.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I explore life through a psychological lens.

I experience the world as intelligent, responsive and intrinsically interconnected, extending far beyond the physical and visible. 

I perceive the human mind as containing within it a vast inner world, one that easily exceeds the outer universe.

I am interested in Carl Jung’s ideas about the personal unconscious, viewing healthful growth - ‘individuation’ in his words - as arising from a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious (‘shadow’) parts of the psyche.

The collective unconscious is a parallel preoccupation, particularly when contemplating how we as humans can mistakenly view ourselves as discrete, complete entities.. Jung describes it as ‘a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals….It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily’.

Drawing on Jung and the Hermetic saying as above, so below, I see external occurrences as linked to internal ones, most actively outside conscious awareness. This notion has become more compelling in recent years as I’ve begun to connect it with major shifts in the wider world, in particular, climate change.

The circle as a symbol of the portal bridging the conscious and unconscious realms is a constant presence in my work.

I work across a range of media that include drawing. writing and participation, employing research alongside such inner practices as dream analysis.

Earlier works include:

  • a nursery refurbishment within a Peruvian prison in collaboration with male and female inmates, for the toddlers who lived there;

  • the translation of doctors’ letters into recordings of bluegrass country songs;

  • the live performance of a 5-part motet by student opera singers from the Royal College of Music of a ‘sung sorrow’;

  • a 3D surround-sound installation of a prayer, sung as a 7-part motet;

  • an 8-month long weekly ritual of writing quotes on an NHS office whiteboard, enlisted as a portal to the collective unconscious - one quote prompted a staff member to resign in pursuit of their creative dream.

CV

EDUCATION

BA (Hons) Fine Art Sculpture, University of the Arts London

MSc Counselling Studies (distinction), The University of Edinburgh

BSc (Hons) Physiology, The University of Manchester

PRODUCTION

2023: British Council-funded delegation visit to London for a group of disabled artists and non-disabled allies from Jordan and Palestine (Shubbak Festival).

October 2010 - January 2011: Yanamilla Prison, Ayacucho, Peru. Self-directed collaboration with inmates, supported by Maki International, to refurbish a nursery and paint a mural.

EXHIBITIONS

2008: Degree Show (group exhibition), Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London

2008: The Nothing and the Nothingness – a Happening by Matthew Lee Knowles, Louise T. Blouin Institute, London

2007: There Will Never Be Another Time (group exhibition), Aida Street Gallery, London

2007: Park 07 (group exhibition), Cannizaro Park, London

2007: Knitting Circle (collaborative exhibition), South Wimbledon Underground station, London

CURATION

2007: Half Seen (group exhibition), La Viande Gallery, London. Sponsored by J. Lindeberg.

COMMISSIONS

2007: Knitting Circle, South Wimbledon tube station, London, UK, commissioned by Art on the Underground (formerly Platform for Art) - lead on collaborative project between Wimbledon College of Art students and Morden Women's Institute.