Krishnapriya’s story
From the very start of Krishnapriya’s story, the theme of belonging rings loud and clear, beginning in her childhood in Pondicherry, India. "I come from a very close-knit family... I was the first girl baby in the family, so I was very protected, by my mother, my grandfather, my grandparents."
Growing up in a large joint family, her world was shaped by intimacy, connectivity, and security. "I never went anywhere alone. Wherever I had to go, I had people with me." Her voice lights up recalling memories of family outings and shared experiences: "Every celebration, every place that we go to, we all go together. We all explore things together."
This emotional warmth and familial support defined her early sense of community. “It was all about family. If anything comes, family comes first. That was the value that was imparted from a very young age.”
Everything changed in her early twenties when she got married and moved abroad to the United States. "I was living in New Jersey, trying to understand how do we navigate this." Her husband had work opportunities, but she struggled with professional recognition. "I had my background in arts, two master’s degrees, but it didn’t matter there. It wasn’t valued unless you're in STEM."
She credits her mother for starting her on her dance journey as a child, but it was Krishnapriya’s own willpower that kept her going. “I started studying, getting degrees, just so I could find stable income and still do my creative side.”
In the U.S.A, she began looking for the community she missed so much from her life in India. “The search of that community started with dance,” she says. “Dance was my sense of building that community.” But while the city’s multicultural energy gave her some sense of belonging, she admits, “It wasn’t the people. It was the city that gave me that feel.”
Everything shifted again when she moved to Wrexham in her early thirties. Initially, the cultural adjustment was difficult. “I felt like a fish out of water. It was not the community I had grown up with. Everything was new.” But her perspective soon changed. “One thing after the other, I fell in love with Wrexham. I couldn’t go back. I felt like this is my place.”
Her daughter was young at the time, and her maternal instinct to provide a nurturing and safe environment echoed her own upbringing. “I felt it was a safe space where I could give her that protective environment. I couldn’t replicate it with my family because I was far away from the home I was born into. Here, in Wrexham, I could create something new.”
Community in Wrexham, she says, didn’t come from the infrastructure or institutions, it came from people. “It was not even dance. It was the people who came together to give me that feeling of belonging at the end of the day.” Alongside the people, nature itself became a source of comfort and identity. “The landscape gave me a pretty big boon of embracement, the mountains, the waters, the bridges… everything around where I live. It gave me that sense of belonging. After traveling I like to come back to Wrexham. The minute I get the train and cross Shrewsbury, I’m like, finally. I see the sheep, the mountains, and I think, I’m home. Always.”
Yet her personal journey has evolved into something bigger than herself. Her deepening roots in Wales inspired her to launch ‘PAALLAM ARTS’, an arts organisation born from a recognition of systemic inequities. “Just because you’re born in a certain place doesn't mean you should be deprived of opportunity. The imbalance in access, especially in rural areas like Wrexham, it is something I couldn't accept.”
“I’m not just standing for a certain group of people. I’m standing for everyone to get fair and square choices in what they do. What they do with the opportunity is their choice. But it should be there.”
Having lived in India, the United States, and now Wales, she sees her global experience as a strength. “I come with a fair share of experience to say how things are different in the world. People have to hear me out, not because I belong to a specific community, but because I speak for equal access for all.”
Inspiration comes from within her family and the community she has helped shape. “The women in my family, my aunts, my mother, my sister, they are firecrackers. Mind-blowing personalities.” She’s also inspired by women around her in Wrexham, who she describes as people “who ground others and create space.”
When asked whether she considers herself an inspiration to others, she reflects: “I don’t do things to be inspirational. I do it because it makes me happy. If I’m happy, everyone around is happy. That’s what matters.”
Krishnapriya’s perspective on diversity is equally grounded and expansive. “Diversity isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s not about saying, ‘we have a brown or black person at the table.’ It’s about creating space where everyone feels they belong, where no one is seen as a threat.” She believes inclusion must be “passed down to the younger generation” to create a more balanced, compassionate world.
Having been on a long journey so far, in terms of miles travelled as well as culturally she says “Just have faith in what you do. See everything as a process, not a goal. If I’m happy in my work, and it resonates with people, that’s enough.”
In a world that often equates belonging with conformity, she shows that true belonging is built from courage, creativity, and connection. From the streets of Pondicherry to the hills of Wrexham, hers is a story of making space, both for herself, and for others.
Stori Krishnapriya
Mae taith Krishnapriya, o’i phlentyndod yn Yr India i’w bywyd yn Wrecsam, wedi ei gwreiddio mewn ymchwil am berthyn a phenderfyniad i helpu eraill i ganfod hynny hefyd.
Yn ei hugeiniau, symudodd dramor, yn gyntaf i’r Unol Daleithiau, ac yna i Wrecsam yn ei thridegau cynnar. I ddechrau, roedd yr addasu diwylliannol yn anodd. “Roeddwn i’n teimlo fel pysgodyn allan o ddŵr. Nid dyma’r gymuned yr oeddwn i wedi tyfu i fyny ynddi. Roedd popeth yn newydd. Syrthiais mewn cariad â Wrecsam. Fedrwn i ddim mynd yn ôl. Roeddwn i’n teimlo mai dyma yw fy lle.”
Wrth i’w gwreiddiau ddyfnhau yma yng Nghymru fe’i hysbrydolwyd i lansio ‘PAALLAM ARTS’, sefydliad celfyddydol a aned o gydnabyddiaeth o annhegwch systemig. “Am eich bod wedi eich geni mewn lle penodol, dydy hynny ddim yn golygu y dylech chi gael eich amddifadu o gyfle. Mae’r diffyg cydbwysedd o ran mynediad, yn enwedig mewn ardaloedd gwledig fel Wrecsam, yn rhywbeth na fedrwn ei dderbyn.”
Iddi hi, mae amrywiaeth yn ymwneud â mwy nag ymddangosiad. “Nid yw’n ymwneud â dweud ‘mae gennym ni berson brown neu ddu wrth y bwrdd.’ Mae’n ymwneud â chreu lle ble mae pawb yn teimlo eu bod nhw’n perthyn, lle nad oes neb yn cael eu gweld fel bygythiad.”
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