Amidst the heat of a number of protests in front of the Secretariat here on Saturday, a set of aurally challenged artists spread a cool breeze through their paintings.
‘Art for all,’ a one-day exhibition of the works of 16 aurally challenged artists from across the State, was organised here by Talking Hands, the association of hearing-impaired employees at Technopark.
The exhibition stood out not just in contrast to the surroundings, but also with respect to the paintings, some of which were portrayals of the experience of being aurally challenged.
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Flowers and fish
For example, Harilal, a student of Fine Arts at the RVL Government College, Tripunithura, captured the feeling of being alert to people waving their hands to catch his attention by portraying a man with multiple eyes looking out at fish swimming around his head. Another Fine Arts student, Sanal, depicted the experience of smelling flowers through his surrealist painting.
True to its title, the exhibition had something for everyone, one of the highlights of the event being a blank canvas where children were allowed to paint freely, resulting in a melange of vivid colours and images.
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Apart from students, the line-up also included professional artists, like Mohan Varma and R. Jayaprakash, both recipients of the Best Differently Abled Employee Award of the State government.
Talking Hands, founded by Kingsley David and Sanu Chukkri, conducts programmes aimed at bringing the aurally challenged to the mainstream, including sign language training and awareness programmes. It now has 40 aurally challenged employees from various companies in Technopark.