Art from behind bars

Through ‘Art from Behind Bars’,Kavita and Nishant seek to give prisoners an opportunity to showcase their talent and also earn the right way. “Many of the artists are up for release and need something to fall back on once they are out,” says Kavita,who runs ‘Know Your Environment’ classes for kids.

Five prisoners from the Arthur Road,Yerwada,Nagpur and Byculla jails,along with cop Sanjay Sawant and his aide Ganesh Sonsurkar,contributed around 120 paintings to the exhibition that was held at the Bajaj Art Gallery in March. The exhibition,where three-fifths of the artworks were sold,was the first step taken by Art from Behind Bars (AFBB).

The idea struck Kavita around two years ago. “This idea started developing after I had visited Arthur Road Jail with my students and met Baby John Parker,an undertrial and enthusiastic artist.”

She decided to take it up seriously and along with her students organised various kinds of door-to-door fundraising programmes. She visited prisons in the state and selected artists who were keen on painting. This was followed by a series of meetings and she is thankful to the police and prison authorities for their cooperation over the past two years that it took to put the exhibition together.

Nishant Shah,a CA in the making and a self-trained artist,soon joined the initiative. “Though we never gave the artists any specifications on what they should draw,I filtered the pieces and selected the best for the exhibition,” says Nishant. “We didn’t want people to buy the paintings out of sympathy but for the art and we wanted them to get the right price,” adds Kavita.

AFBB,which runs under the umbrella of the VED (Values Education and Development) Foundation,provided the artists with just basics like charcoal and paper. The results were impressive. Nishant says,“The paintings are influenced by the past,present and future expectations of the artists and they clearly show that.”

They observed that paintings by Rahul More of Yerwada Central Jail were neater than those by Parker,as the facilities at Yerwada were better than those at the Arthur Road Jail. A series of seven illustrations by Lalita Gonugunta of Nagpur Jail depicts a pessimistic picture of a woman’s life and the conflicting nature of her ethos,harshly carved through time and circumstances in a corrupt world.

The proceeds from the sale of the paintings are being deposited into the personal accounts of the artists. Apart from the money,the appreciation that the artists received at the exhibition has played a vital role in motivating them.

Kavita says,“Now every time I meet them they are excited and keen to give me more paintings. One of them also wants to do an art course once he is released.”

Under AFBB,the two plan to conduct workshops for these artists so that they can create different and better art pieces for the next exhibition,which Kavita indicates will be coming soon.