Strong messages through installations

Young minds

It was a riot of colours and display of creativity as students of various schools collaborated with Amnesty International for their human rights education programme, ‘Hands Up for Change’, an exhibition held at the Rangoli Metro Arts Centre.

Around 27 schools like Al Azhar School,  Excellent English School, Legacy School, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya  took part in the exhibition.

The art installations reflected the thoughts of children as they tried to bring out different issues like malnutrition, gender bias and conservation of the environment.

Inka Dama, a spokesperson of Amnesty International, informed that not only did the children make these art installations on their own, they also wrote their letters in support of Irom Sharmila, who is Amnesty International’s icon for prisoner of conscience. “We got more than 400 letters from children who lend their support to her cause,” she said.

The exhibition also had a wall, where children who came to see the exhibition, could write or paint on. Anakha, a ten-year-old, who chose to leave her handprints on the wall was spellbound after seeing the exhibition.

“I liked all of them but my favourite was the installation which sent out a message to fight child malnutrition. It was very colourful and I am sure it might have taken a lot of effort for the children to make it. Also, I really liked the idea of the wall where anyone could write or paint,” she
noted.

The installations made by the children were subtle reminders of strong messages like gender discrimination in the age of technology. A robot, which was part of the installation, was made in a way that one side of the face looked like a girl and the other, a boy. Made with Styrofoam, paper and glitters, it sent out a strong message.

Ananth, a volunteer from Chitrakala Parishat, helped the children come up with artistic concepts for the exhibition. “Working with children was great. They were full of ideas and did not hesitate sharing them at all. They took the initiative and managed to come up with very imaginative ideas which translated in their work as well. It was a bit tricky to manage them at first but later we bonded,” he said.