BENGALURU: Seventeen-year-old Gayathri Gupta is busy preparing for an art exhibition in Delhi. She has almost 150 photographs in her collection, from which she has to choose five for the exhibition. The girl who was born with Down Syndrome now owns a self-designed photography website and is trying to earn through her passion, just like several other children supported by The Art Sanctuary, a charitable trust launched in the city recently.
“Gayathri is passionate about photography. If more training is given to her, she will be able to take it forward as a livelihood,” says Shalini Gupta, mother of Gayathri and trustee of The Art Sanctuary, Bapusapalya. Talking about children with special abilities, she adds, “Since their childhood, we are asked to focus on their creative skills. Their creativity or artistic power is higher. Now these children have completed their schooling. But what do you do with all these paintings and dancing that the child has been doing? How can we translate it into a vocation for them? That’s where the idea of The Art Sanctuary came.”
The Art Sanctuary is trying to connect young adults with special needs from across the country with skill developers. Aiming to upgrade the skills and provide a platform for them, they are conducting various workshops in the field of art, like filmmaking, photography, sketching, dance, music, sculpture and exhibitions. “We have conducted two workshops. One was clay-modelling in Gurugram. In total, 12 adults participated in it. The second one was a smartphone filmmaking workshop in association with Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and Indian Institute of Mass Communication. They learned how to come up with an idea and shoot the film, edit it and add music and voice. All of them created three short films. Wherever we conduct a workshop, we get in touch with NGOs there. They choose the participants and a FTII instructor comes and trains them. There is a registration fee for these workshops,” Shalini adds.
The trust is organising a national-level art exhibition for adults with special abilities in November. Well-known painter Bose Krishnamachari will be the selector of this exhibition in Delhi. Each participant can submit a maximum of five entries. “Parents can send videos of their kid’s performance or drawings and sculptures made by their children. They can also send photos and videos shot by them. Now, we have received almost 250 entries from all over the country, including Lucknow, Pune, Mumbai, Odisha, Gujarat, Delhi, Visakapatanam, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.”
Bela Joshi, mother of 22-year-old Sachin, who has already registered for the art exhibition, says, “We need to create more platforms like this all over the country. My son has sent three paintings and two short videos. These kids are good at art. If we can promote these skills and make them independent, it will be really good.” Another mother, Bhavana Ashar, a gynaecologist and mother of Kajal, adds, “My daughter is blessed with Down Syndrome. But she’s active in painting and drawing. It’s great if these skills give them more exposure and a small earning. We are looking forward to having more events in Bengaluru itself.”