BENGALURU: A two-day art exhibition featuring works by people with different abilities was conducted on May 25 and 26 at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. Initiated by Rotary Bangalore Abilities, a club formed in 2018 by a group of committed professionals and persons with disabilities, the exhibition showcased 150 artworks of 36 artists from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The event was inaugurated by Jayavibhava Swamy KAS, director, Department for the Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, Bengaluru and Dr Rudraprasad, senior surgeon and professor of neuroscience, NIMHANS. Titled CANvas, the exhibition included works of 20 artists from Karnataka alone. “We would like to address CANvas as an art expo by the MOST-abled. Such was the level of their creativity. We received a positive response from the guests and visitors. Everyone at the event, including us, was mesmerised by their works. Through this event, we not only tried to give these artists a platform to express their ideas but also to give them livelihood,” Lakshmi Ravishankar, committee member, Rotary Bangalore Abilities, said.
CANvas was an attempt to develop a market for creations of differently-abled artists. Shyamala Ramanand, curator of CANvas Art Exhibition, explained, “It was really challenging for me to curate their works, because their creativity and expression was mind-blowing. I overwhelmed as a curator when I comprehended their creations against their own struggles. In their works, the forms, colours and thoughts merged poignantly.”