The aurally challenged break the silence of their world by speaking through paintings.
Their passion for art, their love for nature, their perspectives on contemporary issues, are all reflected in their works. ‘Signs – the Art of Silence’ — an exhibition of paintings by five aurally challenged artists, including State and national award-winners — is an attempt by the non-profit Art for All Foundation to connect with and promote differently abled artists, giving them more space and visibility, and an influential role in the arts and cultural field.
K. Mohan Varma, who retired from the State Institute of Languages, has showcased paintings in different mediums, but it is working with collages that is closest to his heart. Landscapes and figures have been painstakingly created using magazine sheets. One of his oil paintings depicts a mother and child.
Jayaprakash R., a drawing teacher, takes inspiration from his travels — the interiors of Tamil Nadu — for his scenes of rural India or of Punjab to paint a strapping wheat farmer. He has done both acrylic and oil paintings, and translates on to canvas recent events that he has read about or seen, be it the floods that devastated the State or a bomb blast that leaves two children to fend for themselves.
‘Bright and colourful’
Viswanathan G., who has won both State and national awards, has recreated three of Ravi Varma’s works. His landscapes are bright and colourful, but the human element too stands out in his work. A mother, stick in mind, teaching her children in the light of a lamp or a pack of rampaging street dogs tearing into a couple stand out for their vividness. He too has captured the floods on canvas, taking one back to the scale of the disaster.
Fish as a motif keeps appearing in Anu J. Rajan’s works.Anu, who works as a lecturer in painting at NISH, She says a pond near her house gave her a lot of opportunity to observe them, and hence, they figure in many of her works. One of her paintings is a self-portait where she seems to be assailed from all sides to the point of ending her life but is rescued by goldfish, a metaphor for hope, something to cling on to. In one work, Anu shows a ship on which buildings stand, symbolising the lack of space on land, forcing people to live on ships.
Sanal P.K. has completed his MFA from the RLV College of Music and Fine Arts and takes inspiration from personal experiences and everyday life for his works. One of his paintings depicts his parents, sibling, and a young Sanal staring at a snake slithering past, being allowed to go despite being a danger because it has caused no harm to the children. In another, he highlights the environmental cost of plastic pollution, having been found even inside fish. The exhibition will conclude on Thursday.
