THOOTHUKUDI: The Neithal Festival that began last Thursday has brought to light a wide range of artists and a wider array of perceptive artworks touching on the Neithal landscape. But, nothing has left the visitors more amazed than the paintings that now adorn the walls of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board’s multi-storey buildings at Rajiv Nagar near Gomezpuram.
Behind the paintings on five such building walls, are artists, including transpersons, attached to the Bengaluru-based Aravani Art Project. The group works towards uplifting the lives of transpersons by training them to paint. The team leaders generate the pictures, while the others decide on apt colours and paint the walls.
“The paintings we created for the Neithal Festival depict the daily lifestyle of the people in the Neithal area, a Sangam literature identification of the seaside landscape. The paintings on the five walls portray fishers rowing a boat, a woman selling fish, a labourer shovelling salt, children playing by the seashore and folk art. Each of the walls is 35 ft wide and 32 ft tall covering a surface area of 1,120 sq.feet,” said Aravani Art Project coordinator Murugan.
Smitha, a 28-year-old transwoman, said painting is a stress buster. “I am a college dropout and it was hard to earn during the lockdown. Now, the art of painting has given me a new lease of life, I take up painting jobs whenever there is no project work,” she added.
The team is trained in sketching, painting and colouring. “All members are adept at work on wall paintings,” said Ghana, a team leader. For the transpersons in the team, the project has not just been a profession to make strides in, but an opportunity to involve with mainstream society. The Aravani Art Project has provided careers for transpersons. It adorned with paintings, the walls of 50 schools, metro stations, among others.