I believe a creative approach can create space for genuine encounter — between people, their stories, and between parts of ourselves we don’t always have words for. My workshops and facilitation work draw on the similar themes to my creative work: identity, belonging, memory, and the body as a place of knowing. My practice also draws on Sufi contemplative practice — an inclusive source of embodied wisdom, open to anyone regardless of religion or belief.
Stories My Mother Told Me
A series of eight open group sessions exploring identity and belonging within the diverse Iraqi diaspora community, co-facilitated with Josh Azouz and commissioned by the Iraqi Cultural Centre (Shepherd’s Bush, London). Creative exercises — including free writing, painting, drama, and movement — created shared experiences from which dialogue could emerge. The aim was to help participants feel present, and to begin listening to one another: speaking from an embodied place rather than a purely cerebral one. Each week brought a different mix of participants — first-generation immigrants alongside those who’d been in the UK for generations, people who’d sought refuge here for a wide range of reasons: political, religious, ethnic, or related to gender and sexual orientation. That diversity, week on week, was one of the most heartening parts of the work.
Sheelan’s community work extends beyond the studio — from facilitating creative sessions in refugee camps overseas, to working with asylum seekers and refugees in London through outreach departments of theatres and cultural centres. For further examples, please get in touch via the Connect With Me contact form.
Sheelan زكي 