Artist and painter Manoj Maurya recently introduced visually challenged students to art and taught them to create their own paintings.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in
This is the sort of sunshine initiative each of us must undertake in our own small way: imagine introducing a visually challenged person to paint and canvas.
In a first of its kind initiative towards making art accessible for masses, artist and painter Manoj Maurya recently invited visually challenged students from the city’s blind schools and made them ‘see’ paintings. Manoj described and discussed paintings with the students and also took an interactive workshop where he taught them how to create paintings. The initiative to connect art with the masses is titled ‘ReBORN series’.
He even made a painting with the students which he later gifted them with. Manoj explained, “I want to make even the visually challenged capable for expressing their thoughts through the medium of visual arts and paintings. The reactions and questions that these students asked me on my paintings were as insightful as those asked by art connoisseurs. After understanding the ReBORN series, one student asked me what I thought was the colour of the soul. Another asked me the colour of birth and death. They grasped my paintings and the thought behind them.”
The ReBORN Exhibition by Manoj seeks to establish a missing connect between art and the general masses. Manoj says, “Paintings as a form of art should increase their reach and be more relevant and productive for the society. In my own way, I am trying to achieve this [objective], so I have already invited underprivileged children and taught them the finer nuances of paintings. Before this, I have also invited autorickshaw drivers to explore and understand the importance of art. While helping them acknowledge their creative potential, I think that educating autorickshaw drivers about art would go a long way in keeping our clean and beautiful.”
The ReBORN exhibition concluded recently at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery.