An idea clicks

The brief given by the Young Cubs was simple: go ahead and shoot on the theme of ‘Save Nature’ and ‘Global Warming’ using mobile-phone cameras,digital ones or the good old cameras that use rolls.

“The idea germinated when we saw that people,even children,have access to cameras in their mobile-phones. It would be exciting to see what school and college kids would shoot on the theme. Out of the entries,we shortlisted 300 to be displayed at Ravindra Natya Mandir. Some were amazing,even professional photographers were delighted to see them,” said Jatin Baviskar,photography enthusiast and student of L S Raheja School of Art,Worli.

Another reason that prompted the group was lack of anything related to art,apart from drawing,in school and college curriculum. “Unfortunately,our education system doesn’t have anything to sharpen skills of kids really interested in any form of art,apart from drawing classes. Therefore we felt such activities are necessary early in their life,” said Anuja Deshmukh,an illustrator in the group.  

For these 23 Young Cubs,aged between 18 and 28,organising a competition and holding an exhibition was a tough task but their determination paid off. Shriti Nakashe,another member of the group,said that for the past one year,the Young Cubs had been trying to organise such an event but things did not fall in place for several reasons. “We planned an exhibition earlier but due to financial constraints it did not take off. This time,we wanted to make it happen,as it’s the last year in college for some of us,” Baviskar added.

They did not have any funding to make things easier. “We shelled out money from our own pockets for travelling to different schools and colleges and booking the exhibition hall,” said Deshmukh. Baviskar,whose father runs a printing press unit,managed to print posters and other publicity material.

Not everything was smooth. Apart from funding,it was also difficult for them to get schools and colleges to participate. “There were times when we felt it would not happen. We started off in mid-December and had just around 45 days to get educational institutions to participate. With just 10-12 days to go for the exhibition,we had just 15-20 entries,” Deshmukh recalled. “We had to go to them and collect the entries to save time,” said Baviskar.

They are now planning another exhibition. They say the theme would be the same but apart from photographs,this time they plan to add drawings and illustrations,too. The main challenge is again,funding. “We want to keep this up for art but we don’t know how long our parents would continue sponsoring us,” the Young Cubs said.