Shalini Seereeram

Seereeram's visual art focuses on Indo-Caribbean femininity in a way that both "gestures toward" the dominant imagery of Indian women as either demure and traditional, or as "flashy Bollywood icons" while also, in the words of Gabrielle Hosein and Lisa Outar, "remind[ing] us to look behind them". They describe her work as showing Indo-Caribbean women crossing boundaries, while also continuing to carry more traditional female responsibilities.^[4]

Angelique Nixon considers Seereeram's work unique in its "same-sex loving representations" and in the way she works within the Caribbean aesthetic; her colour choices, design and "adornments" are specifically Indo-Caribbean, while also representing douglarisation (mixing between African and Indian cultures) in her subjects facial features which include broader noses and full lips while dressed in saris and wearing Indian jewellery.^{[5]: 177–180}

Seereeram's work, according to Nixon, goes beyond the traditional Caribbean aesthetic which tends to focus on either "paradise" or "the exotic", instead centring Indianness in private settings. Nixon sees Seereeram's work as part of the post-indentureship work by Indo-Caribbean artists to "expand[...] the notion of Indianness".^{[5]: 177–178} Both Nixon and Sharda Patasar, an artist and social scientist, see Seereeram's work as fitting in with other Indo-Caribbean women artists, Patasar highlight's the importance of being understood and accepted as a fully human and as a full citizen of her country, despite belonging to both ethnic and sexual minority groups.^{[2][5]: 178}

Seereeram's style was shaped by her family's move from the centre of Chaguanas to the more rural outskirts. She describes herself a becoming more aware of nature and a sense of her surrounding "as a place where it felt folklore could be real".^[1] Her first work as a child included making necklaces out of river mud and nail polish.^[2] The rubble from her family's old home was used as fill at the site of their new home, providing Seereeram with found objects she could use and repurpose.^[1]

Seereeram has been involved in helping people recover from disasters, and has donated several works of art to help raise money for hurricane victims. She considers this an outgrowth of her experience losing her home in a fire as a child. In 2024 she donated the proceeds from sales of her paintings to help the people of Carriacou recover from Hurricane Beryl.^[6]