Kanj Nicholas and Susan Brisco
KINDNESS IS FREE LET’S PASS IT ON A collaborative art-science exploration exploring kindess
Community Kindness
Art & Science A collaborative art-science exploration between two artists into kindness within our community and the astonishing science of kindness. This project was made possible by Creative Black Country and Arts Council Funding with support from Paycare.
Learn more about the project here: Kindness is Free Launch Event for Offsite 9 Images Right by Dee Patel
Kanj Nicholas
Artist Bios
Kanj Nicholas is a multi- disciplinary artist who was born in Sri Lanka and now lives and works in Wolverhampton. Her art forms include, watercolour, oil, and acrylic painting. Her formal training in textile design, has instilled in her a love of working with textiles, in particular, felted textile art. She draws her inspiration from the natural world and the landscape she inhabits. Her love of pattern and bold uplifting colours, stem from her background in textiles and her tropical roots. More recently, she has begun to explore the interaction of communities within landscapes and weave together, stories of people and their places into her compositions.
Susan Brisco Susan Brisco’s artistic process sits at the boundary between art and science, where her outcomes explore interplays between drawing, lm and sound. The natural world serves as her inspiration, especially scienti c notions of plant sentience and communication. More recently, she has become interested in the unseen anatomical landscapes within our human bodies, connecting science and medical health. Susan searches for that special ‘hook’ which serves to inform and intrigue her audiences through the familiar and real.
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Art meets science
Artist Statement
Kanj Nicholas
Kindness is free, let’s pass it on is a collaboration of two artists, who explore two different perspectives of kindness. Kanj focusses on Kindness as the heartbeat of our city. She explores how acts of kindness, no matter how big or small, have the power to knit communities together, uniting them during the dif cult times of the Covid pandemic. She highlights that kindness is the glue that binds and strengthens communities. Her colourful, acrylic paintings, re ect the diversity of our city and illustrates the uplifting stories of kindness, from amazing people who have given their time and resources, to help those in need. She aims spot-light some unsung heroes in our city and express her gratitude to these inspiriting individuals and organisations. Kanj is passionate about sharing the message of kindness with children. Through her colourful quotes and illustrations, she conveys the message that kindness can be free to give and wonderful to receive and that, it is a legacy for future generations to pass on.
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Image Above by Dee Patel
Quote paintings & Illustrations The aim of these paintings and illustrations are to inspire children. They communicate a message that, Kindness can be the simple things that are free to give, like a smile, a hug or saying thank you. When we are kind to someone, they are more likely to pass it on. It is like a domino effect, the rst act of kindness, sets off a chain reaction and the rest follow. ‘In a World You Can Be Anything - Be Kind’, Medium: Acrylic on
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canvas, Dimensions: 20 x 15 cm
‘Kindness is a Hug’, Medium: Acrylic on paper,
‘Kindness is A Smile’, Medium: Acrylic on canvas,
Dimensions: 30 x 24 cm
Dimensions: 20 x 15 cm
‘Kindness is Saying Thank You’, Medium: Acrylic on paper,
‘Kindness is Free Let’s Pass It On’, Medium: Acrylic on
Dimensions: 30 x 24 cm
canvas, Dimensions: 20 x 15 cm
‘Smiling is Infectious’, Medium: Acrylic on paper,
‘Smiling is Contagious’, Medium: Acrylic on paper,
Dimensions: 30 x 24 cm
Dimensions: 30 x 24 cm
Wolves Foundation The Wolves Foundation is a charity that serves the city of Wolverhampton. This painting is inspired by the story behind the Wolves, ‘Feed Our Pack’ initiative, which was born, during the challenging times of the Covid Pandemic, to meet the needs of our community. It portrays the diversity within our community, uniting and coming together, to help the most needy and vulnerable in our city. Their motive was kindness. 'When a community comes together great things happen’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Mr Jasmer Sidhu Mr Sidhu is the owner of the family run business, M K Sidhu, the local shop in Ettingshall. It is the heartbeat of the community. During the pandemic, when many were isolating and living on their own, unable to see their family and friends, the corner shop became the place where people came to talk. His portrait is set against his convenience store, and captures his kind and welcoming personality. ‘The heartbeat of the community’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Councillor Zee Russell Councillor Zee Russell serves the community of Ettingshall. She serves her community with her heart and with kindness and leads by example. She works alongside local businesses to deliver hampers and hot meals to local food banks, charities and anyone who is in need of support. The setting for her portrait is by M K Sidhu’s, the convenience store, where works closely with Mr Sidhu and family to support her local community.
‘Serving the community with kindness’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Lorraine Woodward Lorraine gave to her community through the pandemic. Despite her own struggles with her health and mobility, she shopped regularly for an elderly friend who was isolating. A supermarket is the backdrop for her portrait, where she shopped for someone in need of help.
‘Kindness is the glue that binds communities together’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Major Singh Jawanda This is a tribute painting to honour the memory of the late Major Singh Jawanda. He cared deeply for his community and his kindness is legendary. During the lockdown, he and his staff prepared 300 packages of hot meals a day, to give to the needy. His legacy of kindness, lives on through his wife, his children, his grandchildren and his Lakshmi’s family. The painting draws inspiration from the kitchen at Lakshmi’s Sweets and Restaurant, where he would sit on his favourite stool to keep an eye on food preparation.
‘Kindness is a legacy for future generations’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Usha Patel Usha’s kindness is an example that, sometimes the simplest acts of kindness have the greatest impact. During the pandemic, she made time to talk to people who were living in isolation or on their own. Just a phone call is a simple act of kindness that can make a difference to someone’s life. In her portrait, she is sitting on her sofa, making the time to talk to people who were lonely.
‘Kindness costs nothing but means everything’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
kate Penmann Kate is a warrior for the homeless with a heart of kindness for those who are for those who are marginalised in society. She encourages creativity as a form of healing within the communities She works in, and creates platforms to enable and empower individuals. Her portrait is set in an exhibition she curated, at the Mander Centre, Wolverhampton, to highlight homelessness. Seeking kindness is what Kate does, to raise awareness for the homeless, the refugee community, for mental health and the charities she works for.
‘Seeking human kindness’ Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm
Science research highlights how kindness actually makes us healthier as
Science of Kindness Artist Statement
cocktails of feel-good hormones (oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine) calm the parasympathetic nervous system which in turn, lowers our
Susan brisco
blood pressure, reduces anxiety and depression and helps improve our immune system function. Susan’s contemporary anatomical-style works are inspired from drawings recorded by scientists of 19th century of micro-architectures of the brain juxtaposed with 21st century science and imagery. The delicate sepia ink drawings feature tendril-like threads of nerves bres, dense forest networks of neurones and curvaceous features of the brain. The common factors unite narratives of chemical changes arising
“The warm feeling of wellbeing that washes
in the body from acts of kindness. The large-scale ink drawings,
over you when you’ve just done something
rendered on translucent vellum paper, hang as though suspended in
kind isn’t just in your head - it’s in your brain
mid-air to present an ethereal impression of inside our brain and body.
chemicals too!” Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, non-pro t
What colour is kindness? The artist considered them to be orange and
Hospital, LA, USA
blue, denoting the colours of the sky and orange glow of the sunshine. A contemporary lm of animated smiles moves and interplays upon the
Susan Brisco’s artwork focuses on the science
drawing surface presenting narratives of how kindness affects us
of kindness and the astonishing biology taking
internally.
place inside our body when giving or receiving
rippling outwards like a pebble in a pond, noting that acts of kindness,
messengers in the brain giving us feelings of
given or received, can help to make us feel happier, calmer and
pleasure, known as the ‘helpers high’.
healthier – a win-win situation that we could practice more often.
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kindness stimulates the release of chemical
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She alludes to notions of how simple kind smiles can be contagious,
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kindness. She aims to share and inform how
the Beautiful Brain This drawing take inspiration from functional MRI imagery of the brain. Emotion is a critical part of our human lives and functional MRI scans are now able to identify distinct patterns within the brain for de ned emotion and here we see the hotspot pattern typical for a participant in a happy state. It seems that 21st century cutting edge research is visualising the depths of human feelings. Just think, when you encounter an act of kindness, we get a cocktail of feel-good hormones being released in the brain that
‘The beautiful brain - happy!’, Medium: Ink on canvas,
creates a distinct pattern. A simple smile or
Dimensions: 122 x 91 cm
act of kindness could make your brain
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happy.
Ripples of Smiles This digital artwork is comprised of many smiles kindly donated by people. It serves to demonstrate how new research has shown that kindness has a reproductive value of ve - which means if one person smiles then ve others nd themselves each smiling at ve more, and each of these go on to smile at ve more. Very soon we have ripples of smiles propagating outwards into society just like a pebble falling into a pond. The artwork uses over 80 donated kind smiles from all types of people to suggest this notion of ripples. Note: *The effect weakens after three degrees of social separation, so we need to start the ripples off again. The artist urges us to “Keep practicing and repeating acts of kindness, to keep topping the wonderful effects of kindness to our body, which
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also make us happier.”
‘Ripples of Smiles, [Reproduction value=5]’, Medium: Digital photograph on Di-bond Dimensions: 80 x 80 cm *Thank you to all those who donated their smiles
Ink & Watercolour ‘It all starts in the brain’ 'Kindness is good for the heart’ ‘Cocktail of happy hormones’
Medium: Ink and Watercolour on Hotpress watercolour paper Dimensions: 27 x 21 cm
‘It all starts in the brain’, Medium: Ink and Watercolour on Hotpress watercolour paper, Dimensions: 27 x 21 cm
‘Kindness is good for the heart’, Medium: Ink and
‘Cocktail of happy hormones’, Medium: Ink and Watercolour
Watercolour on Hot-press watercolour paper, Dimensions:
on Hot-press watercolour paper, Dimensions: 27 x 21 cm
27 x 21 cm
Star Cell of The Brain This delicate lace-like micro-architecture drawing depicts a Star cell (Astrocyte), which is a tiny workhorse cell that makes up half of the brain cells. Its processes extend outwards, reaching out and wrapping around, hugging, the synapse where endorphins or neurotransmitters help to pass on impulses of thoughts, and feelings. The star cell makes the passing of impulses more ef cient, resetting the synapse for the next signal to come along. This busy little cell helps us to feel good and keeps us in heightened states of alertness when
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kindness comes our way.
‘Star Cell of the brain, the hugger’, Medium: Ink on translucent vellum paper, Dimensions: 220 x 90 cm
Forest of Neurones This drawing gives an essence of the dense network of neurones likened to a forest, with tiny orange neurotransmitters in between synapses, resembling owers. Here memories, thoughts and feelings are formed. When you are kind to someone, or someone is kind to you, your neurones are buzzing with increased levels of neurotransmitters (endorphins serotonin, dopamine) that helps give us a legal high. Our brains have 100 billion neurones (nerve cells) with dense networks and branches that connect at more than 100 trillion points. More kindness results in more buzzing neurones, more neurotransmitters and
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heightened feelings of happiness.
‘Forest of Neurones’, Medium: Ink on translucent vellum paper, Dimensions: 220 x 90 cm
The Hippocampus The drawing depicts a micro-structure deep within the brain called the hippocampus, (Latin, sea horse). This structure is vital to formation, organisation, and storage of new of memories and connecting sensations and emotions. For example, a particular scent might trigger a strong memory. People don’t forget you and your act of kindness, and the hippocampus stores this beautiful memory for us. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, a neuroscientists and artist from 19th century compared the features within a hippocampus as “cells like plants in a garden like a series of hyacinths - lined up in hedges with graceful curves” How memories are formed in such a structure as this, is a huge mystery of the brain.
‘The Hippocampus, formation of memories’, Medium: Ink on translucent vellum paper, Dimensions: 220 x 90 cm
Smiles and the Wanderer Nerve The Vagus nerve (Latin- Wanderer) reaches
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all around the body and when triggered by oxytocin through an act of kindness, given or received, the vagus nerve calms us down, reduces blood pressure and heart rate, which is good for the heart and arteries and helps reduce stress levels. The lm narrative suggests how simple kind smiles create changes in the hypothalamus of the brain represented by the orange glow. One smile then induces more smiles and creates multiple positive effects all over the body suggestion a contagious nature of a kindness. What does kindness sound like? A bespoke soundscape accompanying the lm weaves together layers of manipulated sounds of birdsong and human voices in conversation, to create what the artist feels could be the
vellum paper, Dimensions: 220 x 90 cm
Watch ‘The Smiles’ lm here. fi
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sounds of kindness.
Drawing: ‘The Wanderer Nerve’, Medium: Ink on translucent
Film: ‘The Smiles’, Duration: 3.5min Soundscape: Sounds of kindness: Artist’s own sound footage
More than a gesture in the form of a smile
Arun Kapur
Kindness is for All Arun Kapur was commissioned to write poetry inspired by the project and artwork. Enigmatic. Charismatic. Passionate. Lover of life. Wolverhampton born and bred, a place I call home forever. A poet by nature and artist by birth. Arun Kapur believes we all have the power to bring change and being a better humanity
An act of unsel sh love, given freely, no expectation in return. Kindness lives in you; kindness lives in me. It nds a warming home in our hearts. It’ll have us soaring to the highest sky A warm and fuzzy squishy hug A friendly smile to a stranger walking by Whatever the hour, kindness is a superpower Kindness will have us y to the moon Like a rocket in the expansive sky A shooting star in the dimming night A rework in someone’s darkened life Kindness is the glue that brings us together Binding and building communities To unite together humankind Young or old, tall or small, rich or poor,
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kindness shall always be an open door ♥
Arun Kapur
A sensation that uplifts us so high
The Science of Kindness
Through our mysterious brains, no longer to fear and hide Sending waves throughout the body to channel true energy Upon all complexities, kindness reveals our inner synergy Nerves nd themselves in a harmonic passing Transmitting waves that spreads kindness to multiples Infectious and rippling through Kindness helps us smile and unify A cocktail of hormones that leaves a happy glow
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Listen to Arun recite his poems: Kindness is For All The Science of Kindness
Kindness keeps us young and opens perceptions Negative anxieties to positive actions Good for the heart and bridges trust Don’t forget to give kindness a must
With thanks to
Our funders
Contact Kanj Nicholas: www.kanjnicholasarts.co.uk
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Contact Susan Brisco: www.infomed neart.com