JOIN USTo generate awareness on rare diseases, the Centre for Health Ecologies and Technology (CHET) organised an art exhibition and film festival, Blue Ribbon, in the City on Tuesday.
The art exhibition, curated by contemporary artist Ranjana Ramchander at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), showcases artwork by children and young adults suffering from rare diseases.
The young artists, who are mostly under the age of 20, are affected by conditions such as thalassemia, hemophilia, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Primary Immunodeficiency Disease (PID) among others.
The artwork was obtained by the Autism and Rare Diseases Awareness (ARDA) team through various rare disease patient advocacy associations in Bengaluru, such as Hemophilia Society-Bangalore Chapter, Thalassemia Society of Karnataka and Dystrophy Annihilation Research Trust (DART).
Eminent Artist Balan Nambiar said: “With some exceptions, almost all works are done by children between the ages of six and 16 or by those who are older but their mindset is still young. Most of them have used brilliant colours and bold lines, which reveals their passion in delineating their feeling, either by intuition or by intention.”
“This is the first art exhibition and film festival in India to focus on rare diseases and we aim to make it an annual event,” said the management of CHET, who conducted the event under their ARDA outreach programme.
The film festival, curated by Namitha A Kumar, showcased award winning films — The Indomitable Spirit by Maya Chandra and Extraordinary Measures by Tom Vaughan — that shed light on rare diseases.
DH News Service