The Sishu Bhawan here has become a child-friendly space, thanks to an artistic makeover by the Bakul Foundation.
This was dedicated to children on Tuesday by Health Minister Pradeep Kumar Amat and Principal Secretary Arti Ahuja.
Bakul Foundation had been invited by Health Secretary Ahuja to make SishuBhawan into a bright and beautiful place where art has a therapeutic effect on children. The makeover of Medical Ward II (a heritage building) led by Satyabhama Majhi took about two months.
This heritage building of Sishu Bhawan, which was once the Governor’s House, is now a place where history meets the contemporary as contemporary art has given a new life to the historical building. The high pillars have taken on colours and the façade itself looks bright and beautiful.
The painting is in layers just as the halls and faeries on the walls usher us into the magical space inside, which one might forget is a hospital. The room one enters has a play of day and night on the two sides, with one dark and the other light and nursery rhymes describing that written on the walls. The element of children’s play has been interwoven into the paintings. Hence, the play on day and night through paper craft very popular with children is also on the walls.
Similarly, other elements of play such as dice and rubik’s cube have been depicted on the walls inside in a 3D effect along with other illusions for which the nooks of the old building lend themselves beautifully. Inspiration has also come from elements found in the hospital itself like a red balloon with polka dots that a child was playing with.
Each wall was like a painting with its distinctive style such as applique design in one room. In another hall, there are geometric lines that are intended to both soothe and distract patients from the anxious moments and works like a puzzle that they need to figure out.