Thermocol robots, pottery and puppets were few of the many items that children from both rich and poor families made using recycled products for an exhibition. Vaishnavi Singh took a look

If you have ever been to Subhash Nagar, you might have ignored the dusty Khyala village located just behind a big mall. But some children have noticed the narrow lanes of the village, the black water tanks parked on the roofs and the clothes hanging out for sun drying and so on. These children have made a colourful model of the bustling Subhash Nagar mall and the small houses around it using hundreds of wood blocks. This model was the centre of attraction at the recently-concluded exhibition organised by the Sahitya Kala Parishad at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, where the artwork of all branches of the parishad was on display.

Beautifully and vibrant creative artworks adorn the walls. There was a Radha Krishna wall piece, picture-perfect landscapes, famous cartoons — the young minds had put in all their hand work to make this exhibition a success. These artworks were made during the summer workshops.

This exhibition hosted striking thermocol robots, bright Madhubani paintings, pottery, graffiti and puppets, too. Walking amongst this extravagant exhibit encompassing the creative imaginations of little minds, we talk to Ramesh Chandra Maurya, the director of Khyala centre. He said, “The work of each centre has a unique concept. In this centre, everything is made out of waste materials, paint and glue.” Besides the large square town of woods, stood a giraffe and a wooden guitar made painstakingly using waste materials. The artwork was done so beautifully that it seemed as if some skilled artist had sketched it. Using a potted plant, the children had made a hat stand with colourful lights hanging from it that created sparkling shadows all over the floor.

The Jangpura centre had named their exhibition Nazariya. Vibrant drawings, animal pottery and small sculptures made from copper wires were on display. “All this is the outcome of various activities that we made the children do. Our agenda basically was not to teach them, but let them be the way they are. That is also why we chose the name Nazariya since each kid visualises the same thing differently,” shares Chitra Mehta, director of Jangpura cultural centre.

Chitra feels that these workshops are a great way of bridging a gap between the kids who are financially better-off and the ones who come from the poor sections of the society. “We made them do a lot of team activities, so apart from inculcating the values of teamwork, they also interacted and intermingled with children from different backgrounds. We also encouraged children who found it difficult to express themselves on canvas. Through this workshop, they have overcome their inhibitions,” she added.

This exhibition used arts as a means to inculcate various values. Each little activity had an objective attached to it. A sculpture made using plastic bottles, painted in vivid shades and lined high was kept at one end of the hall. Chitra revealed, “The idea is for the children to learn to put together diverse pieces to create something beautiful. They all took a lot of time balancing the bottles, and figured out that keen attention and patience is a key to this skill.”

While doing these fun activities, her class also concocted a love story between their two clay frogs — Champak and Champakali — which were also on display. “These two characters added the fun element in the whole group,” she shared.

photos Sanjeev Kumar