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Ray of light

Last Updated 30 November 2015, 18:34 IST
In 1993, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi initiated his first march against child labour with a lamp in his hand as a marching symbol. The lantern has a symbolic importance in his life as during childhood he had studied under the light of a lamp. So when he was awarded Nobel Prize in 2014, he donated the lamp he had used as a child to a museum in Norway.

It is around this concept the ongoing exhibition, Ray of Hope, is based which is organised by Kala Care Group (KCG), a self-funded organisation that aims to bring awareness around environmental and social issues. The exhibition is curated by Shweta Zharotia and Rakesh Zharotia, KCG founders, who have brought together 40 artists on one platform.

“The exhibition is based on the theme of Right to Education and as light denotes enlightenment and education, we thought it was apt to use lamp as a symbol to build this narrative,” Shweta tells Metrolife.

“We have previously organised exhibitions and for one of them we had used kettle as a symbol. However, when we presented the kettle to Satyarthiji a-year-and-a-half back, he wanted us to paint lamp since it narrated his personal journey,” she says.

At the inauguration, Satyarthi had said, “When we see this lamp, the first thing that comes to our mind is light. When we think about light...we feel hope. He also elaborated on how “fear is not the strongest weapon in the world, as hope casts away all fear.”

The participating designers have used various themes to create different concepts. Like Anuradha Sareen Khurana’s work is conceptualised around fireflies, many of them have painted letters on lantern to highlight power of education and all of them have used vibrant colours to reflect empowerment education brings in. Beside the lamp, artist Kriti Saxena has also given a painting which has a child on a horse who is trying to touch the moon.

“All these works are on sale and 30 per cent of the sale amount will go to Kala Kender’s another initiative that provides digital education to underprivileged children,” says Shweta. “Since we are a self-funded organisation and not an NGO, we have to find different means to generate funds and give back to society,” she adds.

The biggest paradox associated with exhibitions like such is to understand how successful they are in generating interest about a cause through the medium of creative art. “Not always people connect to lectures and conferences. Art has a special place in people’s hearts and they get the message very subtly and interestingly. Any form of creative expression has the power to strike a chord with people,” she says. Ray of Hope is on display at The American Centre till December 5.

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(Published 30 November 2015, 14:53 IST)

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