A small drive away from the heart of the city, one can find nature in a nutshell. Here, birds wake you up with their chirrups, squirrels come seeking food as you munch breakfast, and the trees offer comfort.
Adding to this charm is a house nestled amid the greenery. It’s a perfect canvas where paintings of nature and life live alongside their creator, Vincent Samuel, and his wife, Vimala.
Anandakalakendram, at Kanjirankulam near Neyyatinkara, is where the happiness of creativity meets the bliss of natural beauty.
This summer, the space is hosting a camp for children. Vincent takes classes for them, not in the conventional teacher-student format, but by sitting and painting with them, encouraging them to draw whatever appeals to their eyes.
“We do not tell them anything — either about colours or perceptions. It is as they perceive; their imagination is allowed to remain unbridled and expansive,” he says.
In the 2,000sq.ft gallery space at Anandakalakendram, Vincent’s paintings are on display. An alumnus of the College of Fine Arts, his artistic journey has been a roller coaster ride.
“When I started, it was a race to make ends meet. This space was then my family home, a small house surrounded by trees, like any homestead in Kerala,” he says.
“I used to work with natural objects for my designs. This drew me closer to nature and made me transform my home into a space where nature could coexist with art.”
The idea for Anandakalakendram, he adds, was inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, where nature itself becomes a teacher. Vincent envisioned the space as a crucible where people could gather for sessions on art, literature, music and more. His own internal quests also shaped the idea.
“Once deep into art, existential questions take over an artist’s mind. But at the end of it all, I felt that what is truly needed is a connection with nature.
That led to the birth of Anandakalakendram in 1990,” he says.
The journey, however, was not without hardships. In 1996, Vincent suffered because of a wrong medical diagnosis. A gastric issue was mistaken for a cardiac problem, and the treatment severely affected his immune system.
“I was in a kind of coma. I was unable to perceive anything. This lasted for nearly 15 years, until I turned to nature and Ayurveda. Slowly, I made a comeback in 2014. It was then that I enrolled for postgraduate studies at the insistence of mentors like Kanayi Kunhiraman,” he recalls.
“It made me realise the importance of a life that can help build a better world. But for that, we have to align our lives with nature. My struggles taught me that nature is the true healer, and when in trouble, one must return to the roots.”
Anandakalakendram’s vision remains close to that of Santiniketan, though limited resources restrict it to functioning as a forum for camps and workshops. Here, children and adults learn about art, nature, agriculture, literature, culture, music and dance.
“We don’t have the resources to run a school, but within our limits we organise camps such as these,” says Vincent, pointing to the ongoing summer camp where children are introduced to a nature-oriented way of life.
“These children will come back during weekends or school breaks for refresher sessions. We are also planning an exhibition featuring their artworks alongside mine at the gallery here. More workshops on nature-based living are also in the pipeline.”
At Anandakalakendram, life itself is explored as a work of art. “We teach them ‘Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’. We teach universality to sustain that,” Vincent says with a smile.