Disabled artists learn to paint with feet, mouth

Six disabled but gifted artists are brushing up their skills to paint with their feet and mouth at a workshop here.

Members of the Indian Mouth and Foot Painting Artist Association (IMFPA) are learning to sharpen their skills and embrace new challenges at a three-day workshop at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture. The workshop ends Thursday.

"We want them to nurture their skills. They also get trained from academic people who would understand their problems.

"They are usually strong in one or two genres of painting but we are trying if they can be trained to dabble in other genres and come out of their comfort zones," Paresh Padia of IMFPA Mumbai told IANS.

All its members paint with brushes held in their mouths or between their toes as a result of a disability at birth or through an accident or illness that prohibits them from using their hands, he said.

"Most of them find it easier to paint landscapes but the challenge is to go beyond that and explore other subjects through the workshop," he said.

These artists earn their livelihood and maintain their dignity and independence through the sale of their art works.