‘VISMAYAA: Discovering the artist within’
An exclusive artwork collection and Community Mosaic Art Project by Dr Ramya Mohan, co-inciding with this years’ Mental Health Awareness week (16-20 May 2016).
‘VYAKTAA-AVYAKTAA: The expressed and the hidden’
The highlight event of Vismayaa, with a vernissagé , interactive talk on ‘Science, Art and Creativity : A mosaic of the human mind and the launch of ‘CAPE: Creative Arts for Processing Emotions’(19th May 2016).
Dr Ramya Mohan, MB BS, MRCPsych is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Educator with the National Health Service UK (NHS) since 2008. Originally from Bengaluru, she trained and qualified in both India and the UK at world-renowned tertiary centres of excellence , with South London and Maudsley and Great Ormond Street hospitals. Dr Mohan specializes in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and has a special interest in Neurodevelopmental disorders, Developmental Neuropsychiatry and Psychopharmacology.
An Autism champion for the South Surrey Autism board, Dr Mohan is passionate about bringing art and music together with the mind. In 2015, Dr Mohan founded iMANAS London, an organisation created to promote the integration of medicine, arts and neuroscience.
Exploring the way in which we can harness the mind and brain’s potential, iMANAS London delivers its message and work through projects that bring science, medicine and the arts together. iMANAS supports the logical power of neuroscience (using up-to date, evidence-based research and clinical practice) and the therapeutic creativity and free expression of art.
A highly skilled and trained artist, musician and author, Dr Mohan travels the world as an invited guest speaker to discuss her work, as the founder and director of iMANAS, as well as a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist. Dr Mohan is a regular leading expert contributor with health, medical and parenting publications discussing child psychology and psychiatry. She has been published in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences on mental health. Her topic ‘the role of music and non-musical techniques in self-guided emotional regulation’ was commended as ‘innovative, original, ground-breaking and much needed’ at a recent international Psychiatric Congress.
Dr Mohan’s artwork has been displayed in exhibitions in both the UK and India, with her most recent exhibition being hosted at the MP Birla Millennium Art Gallery in West London. Dr Mohan’s art draws upon her Eastern roots, whilst integrating her working life in the West. The art is inspired by Dr Mohan’s everyday life, situations and people she meets and her traditional Indian art collection has received special commendation at the Liverpool Centre of Arts for young artists.
A formally trained musician in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music, the two different forms of Indian classical music, Dr Mohan firmly believes in the healing and therapeutic power of music and incorporates this approach into her medical practice, in order to promote recovery from illness and aid personality development in children and young people.
Dr Mohan has performed her music to accolades at various prestigious venues across the UK and India, including the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Milapfest. Dr Mohan has recently turned music composer, lyricist and singer for a contemporary world fusion music project ‘Molten Waves’, looking at the most oft quoted, powerful and complex emotion ‘love’ and the mind’s take on the various facets to it.
Following the success of her work in the art, music and Neuroscience arenas, Dr Mohan was invited by the cultural wing of the Indian High Commission, Ministry of external affairs (The Nehru Centre, Mayfair) to exhibit her exclusive artwork collection between the 16-20th of May 2016.
Ramya’s artwork reflects the various moments in life and people she interacts, with a focus on the various roles, strengths and resilience of “woman”. Her art captures the essence of the woman in the variety of roles she essays in life as well as capturing inimitable moments in life, as a professional in the West with South Indian roots and influences .
The Nehru Centre also hosted Ramya’s talk about ‘Science, Art and Creativity: A mosaic of the human mind ‘ on the 19th of May 2016, 6 pm onwards.
Ramya was joined by eminent experts from the field of Music (Smt Sukanya Shankar (Director of the Ravi Shankar foundation), Musicology and Art History (Padmashri Dr John Marr), Civil services (Mr Srinivas Gotru, Minister of state for Culture and Director of the Nehru Centre , London) , Art (Ms Beth Elliott, Director of the Bethlem Art Gallery and Vice-Chair, London Arts in Health Forum) and Literature (Dr MN Nandakumara, Sanskrit scholar and Executive director Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London).
At this lively multi-faceted talk chaired by Ramya, she discussed how creativity and mental health can overlap and how our knowledge of the human mind and brain can be used to harness and develop the hidden potential within all of us. The panel brought in their unique perspectives on the impact of the Creative arts on the human mind from individual, societal and humanitarian perspectives. There was an excellent interactive question and answer session with a knowledgeable and reflective audience, who kept the panelists sharp with their questions and perspectives.
At this event, Ramya launched her innovative collaboration – a ‘Medicine meets Music’ project (CAPE: ‘Creative Arts for Processing Emotions’), an innovative, self-guided therapeutic technique . This novel technique has a basis in her Neuroscience research on music, emotions and the brain and brings together the best of Eastern and Western music and well-evidenced therapeutic techniques like mindfulness amongst others, to support emotional processing/ equilibrium, support recovery from illness and restore mind-body fitness. Dr Mohan has composed the vocals and lent her voice to this project; a collaborative effort with well-known musicians and linguists. Ramya’s collaborative healthcare project is with violin maestro Balu Raghuraman (Violin), GP/musician Dr Amal Lad and Dr Nandakumara (Sanskrit scholar/Linguist).
The audience participated pro-actively in the interactive session, experiencing and assessing the impact of CAPE on their emotional status during the course of the evening. The reviews received about the impact of the technique were very positive .
The event was masterfully managed by Mr Raghu Nandakumara (Citibank) and supported by Ms Navya Anand.
Dr Mohan’s innovative initiatives ( CAPE , Vyaktaa-Avyaktaa , Vismayaa etc) have received rave reviews from specialists and critics in Medicine, Music and Art. Ramya’s work has been widely acclaimed in national print, broadcast and telecast media in the UK, including the BBC and The Independent UK.
Contact details:
www.ramyamohan.com
Twitter: DrRamyaMohan
Facebook: Dr Ramya Ramesh Mohan
