Children living in difficult circumstances across India paint issues affecting their lives

Children Living in difficult conditions aged between 12-18 years from five regions of the country- North, South, East, West and North East presented artworks depicting issues affecting their lives at a three-day Exhibition held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi by Plan India, a child centered community development organisation on the theme 'Plan for Every Child'.

This exhibition is part of the National Conference for Children in Difficult Circumstances.

Inaugurated by noted Film Director and Chair Emeritus, Plan India Board, Govind Nihalani, the objective of the exhibition was to highlight the issues affecting the lives of vulnerable children living on the streets and working, those affected by HIV/AIDS, victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, children of female sex workers and child labourers.

The artworks were shortlisted following 5 regional workshops organised by Plan India in Imphal, Pune, Bharatpur, Hyderabad and Ranchi and involved 30-35 children in each workshop. The aim was to showcase the expressions of children and highlight the need to work together for underprivileged children who are not counted.

Children, individually as well as groups created artworks using canvas, glass, paper mache, and recycled wastes.

Out of the total art work collected, almost 22 large paintings, 35 glass painting, 25 paper mache and 12 posters were exhibited at the National Conference on Children in Difficult Circumstances.

All the art works have been done by children living in difficult circumstances. In Imphal, the children were mostly orphan, in Hyderabad the children were child laborers, in Ranchi the children were from the families working in mines and in Pune the children were HIV/AIDS infected / affected .

The arts works were selected by the means of the messaging.

Ela Mukherjee, Curator of Plan India - 'Plan for Every Child' Art exhibition, said, "Children were introduced to new mediums to express themselves and handling each medium is a new learning experience for them. So they challenged themselves to portray new ideas and express themselves differently with each new medium introduced. It was an unconscious evolution and they captured each level of this evolution in different mediums."

"In the process, the children were introduced to local, inexpensive, easily available materials. In every region at least one activity was made using waste materials which made them realize that to convey one's ideas through visual mediums, one does not need fancy art materials. This was very encouraging for the children who are coming from very underprivileged backgrounds," Mukherjee said.