Sunday, October 26, 2008

They splash colours on bleak backgrounds

Sibi Arasu I TNN

They add a smidgen of colour to bleak cityscapes. For over seven years now, Himanshu S, an artist and teacher at the Rachna Sansad College Of Fine Art, and his friends have been going around Mumbai conducting art workshops and interactive sessions for those who don’t get a chance to express their opinions and can’t afford a fancy summer workshop to fine-tune their painting skills and art aesthetic. From a half-day painting session at a remand home in Matunga to a month-long workshop with the people of Koliwada in Dharavi, they’ve done, and continue to do, it all.

Himanshu, who is one of the core members of the group of avant-garde artists and painters
who call themselves the Common Room Collective, says their art deals more with the people and less with art galleries. “For me, painting and ‘proper art’ are secondary; the work that I do with people has greater meaning and more priority in my life,’’ he says. “It’s more about the process of doing than the final product itself.’’

The workshops do not follow any set pattern and the collective tries to keep them as unstructured as possible. “When we go to a place, we don’t go with a pre-determined idea of all the things that we want to do; we do have a rough idea but we take it as it comes. I usually ask the kids to paint whatever they want to and then go on to do other things after that,’’ says Himanshu.

A few months ago, The Collective took part in the Urban Typhoon workshop in Koliwada, Dharavi, where they conducted a month-long workshop for the kids in the area. During the cou
rse of this, they painted on the roads, the walls, and any space that they could find in the slum. This was conducted simultaneously along with other ‘serious’ studies to figure out a wholly inclusive redevelopment plan for the area. One of the ideas that Himanshu proposed to the kids was to paint their dream home, and he says some of the ideas the kids came up with were mindblowing. “I know their sketches are not going to be taken into account in any slum redevelopment plan, but I really think authorities and city planners should just glance through them at least—after all, the houses are going to be built for them,’’ he says.

The children and even the adults who take part in the workshops conducted by Himanshu and the collective find it a unique experience. Little attention is paid to the final product; the process is what matters. As the workshops progress, the lines between those conducting the workshop and those attending get blurred, with everyone becom
ing an artist and painter and creator of masterpieces.

Himanshu reiterates his workshops will always be more about ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ art is produced. At the same time, he feels he cannot do with painting, as “the inherent honesty of the drawn line makes it the best vehicle for the voice of dissent’’.

With further events with people of different communities and groups across the city lined up, Himanshu is a quite busy for a self-styled “aimless wanderer’’. He is helping organise another month-long workshop at Koliwada where his group plans, along with the kids of course, to paint the walls of the houses in the area. A gallery exhibition of some of his earlier works is also on the menu. However, he doesn’t give this too much importance. “As long as I want to paint, I’d like to be doing the other things that I do,’’ he says.

sibi.arasu@timesgroup.com




LITTLE ARTIST: At the Dharavi workshop, children painted on the roads, walls and any space that they could fin.

This school uses the newspaper for a blackboard

Anahita Mukherji I TNN


Mumbai: Students at Vidya Niketan in Dombivli are turning the pages of newspapers to improve their scores.

When the authorities found that students had their noses buried so firmly in t h e i r b o o k s that they had little time to follow the news, the school introduced an examination paper called Common Knowledge for Stds V to VIII. Children are quizzed on current affairs, ranging from the Dalit killings in Khairlanji to the percentile fiasco that hit junior college admissions this year.

The first common knowledge exam was administered earlier this month, along with the other terminal exam papers. The results were more than a trifle amusing. While one student said that the Indo-US nuclear deal was inked so that India could protect America, another claimed that Chhagan Bhujbal belonged to the BJP, not the NCP. Many were not aware of Khairlanji to begin with, and others confused it with the Delhi Arushi Talwar murder case. Some found it hard to distinguish between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena. And still others thought that the MNS was a national party.

“We don’t want children to treat textbooks like the Bhagvad Gita. We want them to look beyond their texts so that they’re aware of the world around them,’’ said Vivek Pandit, founder-president of the trust that runs Vidya Ram Niketan. Common Knowledge papers will be marked like any other subject and these marks will be counted in the student’s final tally. “That’s the only way they will take it seriously,’’ said Pandit, who is disturbed by the general lack of awareness in the classroom.

Although balancing the regular load with daily news updates on riots, floods and sports is proving rather tough for students, the new subject has been mostly wellreceived. “I’ve started reading the papers everyday. And I watch a lot of news channels too,’’ said Rahul Marathe, an enthusiastic 13-year-old who feels his general knowledge has benefited. “The questions are really different from the ones generally asked in examinations.’’

Uday Desai, the parent of a Std VIII student, says it is a good initiative on part of the school. “It will force students to keep abreast of current affairs,’’ he says. “This will certainly help them later on in life.’’

anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com