Art for Health’s Sake!

I, very cautiously call myself an artist because the word artist comes illuminated with a lot of baggage that I am not very keen on welcoming into my life yet it is within the creative space where much of societal progress is made. There is a constant battle between my creative endeavours & artistic credibility. I have been paid on several occasions to “make art” yet my personal definition of art remains far removed from anything that is currently acceptable within the artistic scope.

So whenever you find my work associated alongside an exhibition, museum or a gallery please bear in mind that my process is a reflection of producing something which is worthy of your attention alongside an invitation for you to delve into my everyday battles for survival as a person of colour, disabled, woman who is also an immigrant.

‘Incite to Care’ is a commissioned work in collaboration with Kings’ College London and NeuroArt as part of ‘NeuroArt’ exhibition launched at The Science Gallery, London Bridge [UK]

Incite to Care

An installation designed to be experienced with sound attempts to share how neurologists view the human mind alongside building a knowledge base that scientists, patients and those of us within the spectrum can build onto.

Please ensure you are clicking on the correct link based on how you identify to best feed into the artwork.

Doing Things with Stories

I was fortunate enough to be invited to this Global Residency along with 9 other changemakers from around the world to think about stories under the Narrative Change practices to lead onto collective action. This research project was linked under the Aesthetics and Cultures of Technology lead by Prof. Nishant Shah.

Starting from outlining the needs of various communities with the help of 9 of my changemaker peers we were able to build a toolkit of sorts to help aid in narrative change practice which in its second phase brought in mentorship opportunities to other budding narrative changemakers.

Unspeakable Things Vol. 5

This part ephemeral sculptural installation brings together medical imagining with videography to showcase the workings of a IBD-related stoma bag. The work aptly titled ‘Unspeakable Things Vol. 5’ refers to the unspeakable taboo of talking about one’s bowels or, in this case the stoma itself.

In an effort to showcase that the stoma contents widely differs from common faecal matter the video takes you through a journey of the insides and outside workings of a stoma including a look at the stoma outputs which remains ostracised from our mainstream society. The work especially targets women of South Asian cultures that chooses to stigmatised women with stoma bags.

This specific artwork was created using my own brief stoma experiences during a complicated period of my life as I was on life saving nutrition support alongside nursing an organic stoma that developed through a skin-closed abdomen wall. There are more works in order from this medically curious times.

Inconclusive Diagnosis

The photography-based sculpture commissioned for the group touring exhibition ‘Technology is Not Neutral’ grew out of an anxiety where words alone could not reveal the frustration that comes with needing to convince everyone around you all the time that you have an invisible, chronic condition.

The life-sized sculpture shows various surgical scars I have collected over the years that shine a light on the multiple layers to living with a chronic disease; which in my case are Crohn’s Disease & severe airway and pulmonary complications. The sculpture extended beyond its physical existing and dared the general public to match the scars to its surgical births which allowed me to share the complexities of living with incurable, invisible chronic conditions whilst also increasing public knowledge around often unspoken comorbidities that come with Autoimmune Diseases.

Check out the exhibition catalogue here and more information about the group show here.

Invisible Health Data Project

Over the years, I have had the privilege of showing my work at the Victoria & Albert Museum numerous times. Working with the Digital Futures team, I have exhibited as part of London Design Festival between 2015 & 2017. One of the brilliant collaborations between The British Council, V&A and LDF led to the ‘Crafting our Digital Futures’ publication.

The following year the launch of ‘The Invisible Health Data’ project as part of Digital Design Drop-ins which continues to grow even now. Culminating into presenting the development & research of my work at LDF 2017 as part of ‘Women & Digital Storytelling’ which allowed me to showcase how the health data project had evolved and the role of storytelling that facilitated all of it from the beginning. You can also find more info from V&A’s ‘Rebooting the Digital Commons’.

*Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Entrance, London (UK)*

The Invisible Labs

The Invisible Labs is the product of working with chronic diseases patients to envision a patient-led healthcare going forward. Right now, we are home to a group of distinguished chronically abled people from around the globe alongside developing new projects & harnessing ideas for a better life.

The heart of the project lies within Chronically Driven; a patient-driven digital storytelling project that has captured alternate narratives to chronic health and has evolved into a variety of different programmes aimed at responding to those with invisible diseases and their immediate needs.

None of this would have been possible without the support of a magnitude of people, organisations & funders. Some of them are Innovate UK, The British Council, School for Social Entrepreneurship, The Royal Society for Arts, ACE Tech Pilot Programme and WIRED Magazine.

*WIRED Creative Hack Award at the Tokyo American Club, Japan*

Chronically Driven

The first project to win an international award at the WIRED Creative Hack Award for the most innovative idea using creative technology at Tokyo, Japan. This was aimed at bringing recognition to the often ignored communities of those living with chronic, invisible, incurable conditions. Especially within Asia, the public awareness and outlook towards autoimmune diseases are multi-layered built outside the fabric of different cultures.

It is essential that we understand and learn the skills to live with and make it easier for fellow citizens to live a better chronically abled life and this was the impetus for accepting the award. As a disabled, female artist of colour this has been a continuing thread of work aimed at engaging Asian communities to explore the chronically abled life.

You can find out more information from the British Council Creative Economy blog and visit the current Chronically Driven page.

Thank you!

It has not been an easy feat to make these works which are time sensitive and often coincidence with ill health and they could not & cannot be achieved without the help of dear and near ones including funding bodies who have invested greatly in my work.

What you see here is merely a glimpse of the various strands of work that I undertake, primarily textual as they may be I hope to ultimately transform our common understanding of health into one that is inclusive without marginalising any one of us.

With generous support from

Arts Council England
The British Council Creative Economy
WIRED Magazine, CondeNast Japan

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts’, Society & Commerce
School for Social Entrepreneurship
The National Health Service (NHS)