City artist brings colour to kids’ lives through art

The children drew beautiful paintings – inspired by their lives and the world around them. The children belong to the SIP Memorial Trust, Kolathur, that houses HIV affected, orphaned or vulnerable by providing shelter, healthcare and education. The four-day workshop was organised by city-based artist Aishwarya Manivannan and her students of Maisha Studio. 

To celebrate this collaboration, she decided to exhibit the paintings made by the children alongside the works of students from Maisha Studio. The art exhibition titled ‘Outside the Lines’ at Lalit Kala Akademi has attracted the attention of many art aficionados. 

Says Aishwarya, “Art should be celebrated by people from all strata of society. But, unfortunately, our society isn’t welcoming and gives the cold shoulder when it comes to accepting art by lesser-privileged people. I want my students, who come from privileged backgrounds, to get connected and sensitised with people from other backgrounds. Art and design, irrespective of the creator, deserve an equal platform —  that’s one of the reasons why the paintings done by SIP children are exhibited along with my students’ work.” 

According to her, monetary help is not the only way to support these children or bring in a change. Teaching a skill or imparting knowledge is really the need of the hour. “There is more to life than meets the eye. 

Around 45 children between the age group of 4 and 19 participated in the workshop. It was a life-changing experience for them and my students as well. Our aim was to give the children access to art education. When they came to know that their paintings would be exhibited in the city, they  were more than thrilled. 

It gave them a lot of confidence and boosted their self-esteem,” says Aishwarya, who is also a Silambam dancer. Abinaya Selvanathan, a student of Maisha Studio, feels that she has done the right thing, by giving back to the society. 

“We’ve had our doubts about how the kids at the Home are going to respond to us. But to our surprise, the kids were so welcoming. They were open-minded and didn’t complain about their plight. There are many talented artists among them – even, many of us were inspired by their artwork.” 

Khyati Mehta, who was also a part of the art workshop, wants to help the children from less–privileged backgrounds unleash the artist in them. 

“When it comes to art, unlike us, they are unbiased and have a lot of creative ideas that none of us would have thought about. We need to give the children a chance to experiment with their creativity,” she says. The proceeds from the exhibition will be used to raise funds for SIP Home.