As part of its fund raising events, Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO) inaugurated an art gallery on its office premises in Anna Nagar West on Wednesday, to help the marginalised children in the city.
The gallery houses works of 18 renowned artists, like Vandhana Jain, Henry Daniel, Pannerselvam, Premalatha Seshadri to mention a few. The funds raised through the sale of these art works will be deposited in the bank and the interests will be utilised to support children who are homeless, HIV+ve, or survivors of human trafficking. “We wanted to do something to mobilise a sustainable income for years to come,” said A J Hariharan, secretary, ICWO. “This exhibition and sale is going to be on throughout the year. Once all the works are sold, we have artists ready to refill the collection for us,” he added.
Each artist has given four paintings to the gallery. While one of the paintings is completely given for charity, 50 per cent of the price of each of the other three paintings sold would be given to the painter himself.
“This is an innovative idea, wherein an artist who paints to earn a living is ready to contribute a part of his creation for the society. It says much about the kind heart of the artist,” said S Suresh, honorary secretary, Voluntary Health Services, Adyar, who inaugurated the gallery. Artist James Manic said that donating his paintings for charity, instead of money, was the best way he could contribute to society. “I wish to contribute more in future,” he said. But why art for charity? “We have experimented with many other means,” said Hariharan. “A few years ago, we started a project through which we collected materials 60 years or older and sold them. Many were not interested in stacking up old items in their houses,” he added.
It is then the concept of exhibiting creative art works struck Hariharan and his team. After contacting established artists and collating their works, an exhibition was held at ITC Grand Chola in early September. “The challenge now is to make people aware,” said Hariharan, who plans to target the youngsters through social media sites. ICWO is planning to conduct workshops and have artworks done by poor and marginalised children, mentored by the professional artists, at display.
The exhibition is on at ICWO, Vallalar colony, Anna Nagar West, from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm, Monday to Saturday.