Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” says Helen Keller. World NGO Day, which falls on February 27, honours the tireless efforts of non-governmental organisations. In a profit-driven world, these organisations provide the balance needed and a deeper purpose to our existence. Art often becomes a perfect tool to make a difference and NGOs use it generously to do so; for art does have the power to heal and to impact lives. Let’s pay tribute to some of the NGOs that have been touching lives with art.
Art for inclusion
Initiated in 2016 by Poornima Sukumar, a Bangalore-based artist, the Aravani Art Project is an art collective that brings together people from the transgender community to collaborate and create art. Although it started as a local initiative, the NGO’s projects have now expanded to other countries, crossing geographical boundaries. With a mission to change the way society views the LGBTQIA+ community, they paint murals on city walls that tell their stories. And why street walls? — because it is often on the streets that the community members are subjected to harassment and hence, these large, colourful wall murals signify their inclusion in society and help to reclaim public spaces for alternate voices.
The organisation had its first gallery exhibition last week to celebrate its nine year journey. The Mumbai show prodded the viewer to ponder over the duality with which society treats transgenders. While being treated as sacred beings during their cultural events like the Koovagam festival, the reality of their daily life is far different. The founder, Poornima Sukumar rightly states, “ Space is what everybody is fighting for. Not just physical space but a space in society where they can express themselves and feel respected.”
Colourful changeovers
Chal Rang De, an NGO started by Dedeepya Reddy, has been changing the face of Mumbai’s slums using art. They took over the Asalpha slums, along with local volunteers, as their first project. The mission initially was to beautify what is often considered the ugly faces of urban India. The walls and the roofs of the houses were painted and gradually, this colourful renovation also made the slums self-sustainable when slum tourism picked up. The Khar slum art project was their second one and with its proximity to the airport, it was considered essential that the right aerial message was sent out. Starting off with the roofs of 300 houses, the mammoth 7,000 rooftop slum was transformed into a vibrant synthesis of local stories. It eventually became the pride of the slum dwellers, so much so that it also turned into a drive for cleanliness. It wasn’t a cakewalk though. It took time to convince the residents that the project was to bring about a positive change. The founder Dedeepya says, “ We hope to replicate the same in other places as well. The goal is not only to make the residents proud of their homes but to also popularise a once-ignored community.”
Holistic well-being
Ever since its inception in Chandigarh in 2011, Artscapes has dedicated itself to using a unique methodology called Expressive Arts therapy to emotionally empower the participants, especially medical patients. Their Care for Cancer project takes into account the anxiety and trauma faced by those diagnosed with cancer. With the aid of a combination of psychology and creativity, the programme provides a diversional therapy that identifies coping mechanisms for both patients under treatment and their caregivers. Using art, the carefully designed sessions encourage emotional expression and by ensuring the participants also create together, the consequent sharing of feelings facilitates social integration.
A safe haven
Who would have ever guessed that art has a place in one of the world’s largest slums? Thirty five-year-old Himanshu certainly did, way back in 2005. As a college student, he often volunteered to work with school children to paint on walls. When he set up the Dharavi Art Room along with Aqui Thami, an indigenous artist, they envisioned a colourful room in this enormous slum where residents could forget their reality and create art. The only portrayals of Dharavi that the world had seen thus far had been made by those who lived outside it. Himanshu and Aqui wanted people to see Dharavi through the eyes of the children who inhabited there. They launched the Art Room with this purpose in mind and encouraged them to paint their lives in the slum. Over time, the children learnt to open up and narrate their stories — the things that made them happy or the issues that disturbed them, through drawings. They were introduced to a multitude of art forms like photography and motivated to pursue what interested them. The slum dwellers were suspicious at first, but their doubts were quelled when they saw the difference that art made in the lives of their children, how they learnt to dream what was considered almost impossible once. The founders say, “ We look at art as a way for these children to understand their own lives and those of their neighbours and cope with the problems they face. We want them to find solutions themselves. Communal disharmony is one of the many problems prevalent in Dharavi and the art room helps children deal with that too.”