Kannagi Nagar marginalised kids’ artwork gets a colourful display

ARTKannaginagar’ is a collaborative initiative of Chennai City police and InkLink Trust to train the kids, who have little if no opportunity to express their creativity.

The idea of organising such an expo was conceived by Rohith Nathan, Deputy Commissioner, Adyar, Shaswati Sengupta, Managing Trustee, InkLink Trust and Kaustav Sengupta, Founder, InkLink Trust and Associate Professor, NIFT Chennai.

While crowds thronged the NIFT to look the works displayed, city police commissioner AK Viswanathan impressed with one of the creations, took it home.

Speaking to DT Next, Kaustav said, the children studying in various schools were selected and given a series of training workshops organised at the Police Boys Club, Kannagi Nagar.

The paintings were thematic representation of various expressions such as ‘tree of life with happy birds,’ ‘colourful tiger,’ ‘peacock,’ ‘ornamented happy fish.’ The participants not only learnt art, but also were trained in effective communication, team building and art appreciation, Kaustav said and added that the experience with paint and brush proved to be an enjoyable affair for the kids. It was also a healing experience for the children, several of whom were scarred by family difficulties at home.

“Many of the children are hyper-active. When we started the initiative in November, they did not even sit in one place. Over the months, they worked together and learnt about team building, storytelling and analysing.

Together they created 12 canvases,” said Kaustav.

Post the success of the exhibition, organisers also have plans to put their work on display in other galleries like Dakshinachitra.

“The stigmatisation and alienation have given little opportunity to the children and teenagers of the area to exhibit and get appreciated for their talent. Through our various workshops, we try to bring about a change in them,” Kaustav added.