Walking into the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery in Kozhikode on Monday, it was not the usual artistic brilliance that awaited one, but the peak of imagination from three very special artists, on display.
The exhibition of works by Vaishnav Prathyu, Sneha Kailas, and Hatim Hussain that concluded on Monday featured more than 50 paintings by the trio, who are students of Thanal, a centre for empowerment of differently abled people, at Malaparamba.
It was Vaishnav’s dedicated efforts to make the lockdown interesting that led to the exhibition, in which a majority of paintings were by him.
This 19-year-old had presented a variety of themes and instances from daily life and mythology to come up with these works, which are mostly done in pencil with occasional usage of water colours. A few paintings by Sneha and Hatim are completely in water colour though.
Vaishnav and 21-year-old Sneha are involved in a variety of activities, including dance and theatre. They had staged a play in four stages in Bahrain just before the lockdown. Sneha had even been a participant of the Miss Kerala pageant recently and had won prizes in the special category.
Hatim, 12, is more inclined to fine arts than performances and is a skilled calligraphy artist.
