Showing Our Creative Side
By: Lakshmi N Kurnutala M.D., M.Sc.
In this newer section of the newsletter, we are "showing our creative side" as part of our wellness program. We encourage anesthesia faculty, CRNAs, residents, anesthesia technicians, and administrative staff to submit their artwork (paintings with descriptions), music interests (with narrative and photos), photography (with comments), poetry, or small narratives (less than one page).
We know that we have an excellent team to provide the best possible anesthesia care for patients in the state of Mississippi through UMMC. Anesthesia is our profession, but we want to share your passion for bringing a little joy and improving our wellness.
We are a great team as professionals, but our passion (art, music, dance, poetry, photography, etc.) sometimes needs to be more restrained/stopped because of our busy schedules. We want to show the world what we love other than providing the best patient care. As human beings, we don't need to give up one for another; balancing our professional and personal life is very important to improve our wellness.
Please continue to send your submissions to Dr. Sara Robertson or me. We look forward to getting many submissions from each of you!
Lakshmi N Kurnutala M.D., M.Sc.
Professor & Director of Neuroanesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology
My passion for arts (painting, poetry, singing, and dance) has existed since childhood. However, the financial conditions were impossible for my arts learning until I entered medical school in India. During my first year of medical school, I started writing poetry with a pen name (“Anveshi” means Explorer or Soul searcher) with good reception in our weekly wall magazine “Pulse.” Later year, I became the editor of the medical school wall magazine and started writing editorials, poetry, and drawing Art for the magazine and enjoyed it for four years. After 2003, I stopped my passion for becoming a better physician and continued my journey as an anesthesiologist until 2020. In March 2020, I provided anesthesia care for the first COVID case in UMMC without knowing the patient was positive; the next day, the ID physician put me on home quarantine for 14 days. The first two days of quarantine were spent watching movies and writing papers. On the 3rd day, I got bored, so my wife offered me some paintings and canvases bought for my daughter. Then I started to paint timelessly and became an aesthete. I am a self-taught artist; I continued my passion for painting with encouragement from my family and friends.
My paintings are acrylic on canvas; each painting takes 2 hours to 10 hours, depending on the complexity of the painting. All the paintings are inspired by nature and women, from YouTube videos, photos, abstracts, and visuals. I have drawn almost 100 paintings so far and given away one-third of the paintings to friends and family. I recently started donating my Art to charity with the ‘Art for the Cause’ motto for the Hindu Temple Society of Mississippi (HTSM) renovation in 2023. I published some of my artwork in the UMMC art journal “Mosaic,” as cover art in the MSMA journal, and in book chapters. I found my passion again after 18 years and enjoyed every bit of it. Arts (painting, singing) significantly impacts my everyday life in dealing with emotions and keeping me open-minded to new ideas. I am still learning and exploring my passion and love for painting with great inspiration from nature and human relations with the support of my daughter as my cheerleader and my wife as my critic.
Ms. Briana Banks
Anesthesia technician, Department of Anesthesiology, UMMC
From a very young age art has played a detrimental part in my life. At the age of 8 years, I was hospitalized with a chronic illness at this very hospital and unlike most children who were able to play outside and hang out with friends I had a very different upbringing confined to hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms. But in that place of darkness, art (painting, drawing, hand crafts) were something I could rely upon and express myself. Art wasn’t just a way to express myself, it brought me joy and made me feel like I was a normal child. To this day art is still a very important part of my life which gives not only me joy but the people I create it for. I use my passion for arts, to communicate, show my gratefulness to people who I love through gifts, as a profession and create an enjoyable moment like paint and sips.