BIO

Shyam Nasira Persaud (pronounced sharm nas-eer-rah puh-sard) is an artist, producer and NHS employee. She was born in London, UK, where she lives and works.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a seeker of the psyche, looking for treasure within the depths of a reality I perceive as extending far beyond the physical and visible - one that is intelligent, responsive and fundamentally interconnected.

I explore belonging, intergenerational trauma and the mother archetype in Western capitalist society through the lens of Jungian psychology.

I examine the inner world in relation to the outer one, trying to understand the relationship between the two. Drawing on the Hermetic saying as above, so below, I have come to understand external occurrences as inextricably linked to internal ones, most actively outside conscious awareness.

The circle as a symbol of unity is a constant presence in my work.

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

Previous works include refurbishing a nursery and painting a mural, in collaboration with inmates in a mixed Peruvian prison, for the toddlers who live there; translating imagined doctors’ letters into recordings of bluegrass country songs; live performance by opera singers of sung sorrows written by the artist; a 3D surround-sound installation of a prayer, sung as a 7-part motet; an eight-month long ritual of writing quotes on an unused NHS clinical trials whiteboard, enlisted as a portal to the collective unconscious, which prompted a staff member to resign in pursuit of their creative dream and led up to my father’s death.

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

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

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, with support from Maki International, to refurbish a nursery and paint a mural.

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.