For Srinivasan Periathiruvadi, who straddles his passions of raising awareness about public cord blood banking and wildlife photography, a decision to bring them together in 2012 was life-changing.
“I hosted my first solo exhibition of the photographs I had shot in 2012 and managed to raise over Rs. 7 lakhs for the Jeevan Stem Cell Bank. This year, as well, the proceeds will go towards the same,” said Dr. Srinivasan, the chairman of the bank, speaking about his photo exhibition ‘Nature Images’.
The exhibition has photos of animals and landscapes from across India and Africa, including the Jim Corbett National Park, Barrackpore, Tanzania and Botswana. Elephants, lions, peacocks and cranes are among the wildlife that feature as subjects in his photographs.
The photo exhibition, which began on Thursday, will go on till December 4 and will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Folly, the gallery in Amethyst on Whites Road.
“I’ve travelled extensively to photograph wildlife and something which I started as a hobby has now become a second profession. I’m currently working on a series titled ‘The Mongoose View project’ where I shoot animals from a height of two feet,” he said, pointing to the photo of an elephant which was shot in that manner.
All proceeds from the exhibition go towards the Jeevan Stem Cell Bank. “With 25 million births happening in the country every year, hardly around 10 per cent of the cord blood goes to stem cell banks. Stem cells from donated cord blood can help a large number of people, who are battling blood-related diseases including blood cancer and thalassemia,” Dr. Srinivasan explained.
He further said that the funds collected by the stem cell bank were used for creating an inventory, as well as carrying out the HLA typing for stem cell transplants to ensure that there was
easy and quick access for those in need. “With a fully functioning registry, which will help us with a list of potential donors as well as what is available with us, we can find more matches and reach more people for successful transplants,” he added.
