Varsha Gowda By Express News Service BENGALURU: I believe that socially and culturally, there are many different shades of brown and framed in the context of Canada, I got to explore these shades in many different situations,” said Amrita Kumar-Ratta, a Canadian-Indian social researcher, writer and artiste who was in the city for a storytelling workshop that explores the themes of gender, culture and identity artistically. Amrita Kumar-Ratta Starting with a performance titled Shades of a brown girl, the workshop explores possibilities of creative self-expression. “I was never able to connect to regional identities in the way many Indians who I grew up around were able to. I grew up in Sikh-community and my customs were very different, so I thought that was the only way to be Punjabi,” said Kumar-Ratta. Only during her college education did Kumar-Ratta realise that there were many different brown identities. “I met Indians whose parents migrated from East-Africa, but they were Indian and this prompted me to go on a journey of discovery of my identity.” This journey of self-discovery culminated in Shades of a brown girl. “I took a ten-week play-writing course, and I wrote this play at the end of it. After that, this project took a life of its own because so many people were able to connect to it,” said Kumar-Ratta, who went to an Arts High School, but never thought that theatre had a place for her since most of her classmates were Caucasian. “So many years later, even though I had strayed from my path in arts, this play cemented my connection to it,” she said with a smile. The arts have enabled her to connect to her audience in a very different, powerful way. “My topics really include complicated issues of gender, culture and identity. These are mainly informed by my research and are strongly political, but art is really a tool to uncover hidden vulnerabilities, she said, adding that the performance at the beginning of the workshop breaks the fourth wall. “I create a space of emotional-intimacy because I am giving the audience my story with all of its vulnerabilities,” she added. The researcher and artiste finds that South-Asian women’s identities and stories are often invisible. “We are forged in this culture of silence, even though our art, dance and cinema are so expressive. So, I am really trying to resonate with these women and break this silence,” she said, adding that she uses symbols that are relatable — such as the shades of brown, braids and names. “I make sure to emphasise that this invisibility that I talk about is not informed by stereotypes because I grew up in the west, this is a cultural reality that South-Asian women face globally,” she said. Speaking about the atmosphere of intolerance that has overtaken the world socially and politically, “I think self-reflection is a powerful tool that not only enables us to determine who we are but also really think about how the other person feels,” she concluded.

Stay updated with all the Bangalore Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.