Shermina Kumari
Cultural work for conversation
Clinician, Cultural worker, Educator
Paediatrician, Poet, Playwright
I am a clinician, an educator and a cultural worker - a poet, performer and playwright. I create literary and performative art to reflect, relate and educate. I make applied theatre - using performance as pedagogy and giving voice to communities - with the intent of social change.
As a director and playwright, these identities offer me the opportunity to make art by and with communities. I work with diaspora communities, clinicians and neurodivergent communities. I collaborate in creative workshops, using devising and iterative script writing to build productions together. I am interested in testimonial theatre - for stories on stage that reflect the views and cultures of the communities they come from .
Art, through it's mysterious ability to evoke emotion and inspire awe, can transport us beyond the boundaries, rules and rigidities of our everyday lives -I believe it is in it's affect that we find it's power.
I'm a British South Asian neurodivergent parent. My work lies at the intersection of all these identities - vocational and personal, scientist and artist - enriched by traditions of east and west.
I hope that my cultural work, rich in a plurality of perspectives, will use the power of art to start a conversation. Conversation that might lead to a shift (or perhaps a nudge) in our attitudes to ourselves and others - realising our own value and creating more compassionate connections with the world around us.
As a developmental doctor I know that our physical and mental health is intimately entwined and impacted by our identity and belonging. We need care and connection to survive, grow and flourish. Yet, sadly, despite access to a more globalized society, we become more isolated and polarised.
There is no simple prescription for connection, few tools in a doctor's bag of tricks. However, in our stories, our poetry, our music, our art - the tools of our cultures - much about connection can be realised and reflected.
My work is interdisciplinary and intentionally crosses paradigms. I use creativity and critical thinking from a variety of viewpoints because there no single truth for complex questions.
I position my art in the alleyway - the gap between our two homes. A place to safely and playfully explore who we are and who they might be.
As a practitioner and paediatrician, I know this to work to be important to our health, our healing and our humanity.
Shermina Kumari
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