Art is a frequent medium for human expression and resistance, and within that space of creation and possibility is the opportunity to find ways to fight poverty and alleviate the suffering of the global poor.
Starting of Paint for Life
Paint for life was an idea of four students when they got to that Cleaning Women staff is uneducated . The need to improve the lives of these women who might not have had an education due to early marriage or pulled out of school at a young age due to financial constraints we decided to bring colours to their lives through Pain For Life in August, 2019 . Pakin is the curator and plans lessons for the workshop, Nisha, Ananya, Ishita and Navya execute the lesson plan.
We started taking workshops with simple art , primary colour to Mandala art.
How it works :
Through integrative methods, art engages the mind, body, and spirit in ways that are distinct from verbal articulation alone. Kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic opportunities invite alternative modes
of receptive and expressive communication, which can circumvent the limitations of language. Visual and symbolic expression gives voice to experience and empowers individual, communal, and societal
transformation.
Art is neither above nor outside our existence: it is life itself.
PAINT FOR LIFE build a bridge between art and the issues of economical and social development
Art helps in developing fundamental cognitive capacities, critical analytical skills, and providing learning experiences that have a significant impact on a person.
Art programs can focus on entire communities faced with poverty and provide multiple services and opportunities in terms of gainful employment, a platform of expression for the voiceless, creating beauty and hope amidst poverty and blight, provide awareness to suffering, galvanizing donors and philanthropists, and can allow others to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
Art and creative expression can help provide employment and income to those who are impoverished. Having non-profit programs that help develop artists by providing a more equitable share of profits from sold work, and investing in opportunities for those who are poor to create and thrive as artists, means a larger return than one individual’s income and the chance to influence poverty in an entire community or area.
Art can advocate for the impoverished, provide visibility to issues of poverty, and be a platform for agency to effect change and eradicate this form of human suffering.
Art can help fund projects and utilize creativity to find measures to help end the suffering of the billions of the world’s poor. Artistic endeavors and the art community can be organized and motivated to provide fundraising and resources for essential programs and serve as the appropriate community to build connections of supporters. Art naturally involves innovation, and creative minds can be utilized to find solutions to problems like substandard housing or the effective use of public space. Those suffering in poverty need all the resources we have available, and art has the capacity to take its own form and be that of another, so when used to fight poverty, it becomes an instrument of justice.
Testimonials
Manju Teji
I am Manju and I have been working in Neerja Modi Modi school for a long time in order to provide for my family’s basic needs and to help my children achieve all the amenities that I never had in my life. Whenever I would see my kids going to school I couldn’t help but wonder what great adventures they are going to be embarking on today. With the help of ma’am Ritu and her team I could experience the thrills of school life myself, which had been my dream since forever. I had always been interested in art and craft so making such beautiful artefacts with the help of such encouraging children who help us along each and every step makes me feel very ecstatic and when I take these things made by my own hands my family also appreciates me a lot and my kids feel great knowing that their mother is also learning something new every day just like them. Lastly I would like to share the most exhilarating experience of my life when I learnt to write my own name in Hindi and English for the first time because it gave me a lot of confidence which will help me be productive in my work and gain more respect in the eyes of people around me who used to think that I can’t even sign my own name.
Geeta Saini
Namaste! My name is Geeta Saini, and I work as a Cleaning support staff at Neerja Modi School. Last week i was given an opportunity to take part in a workshop “Paint for life”, which was started by a batch of students from the school
Poonam Jagid
Namaste! My name is Poonam Jagid, I work as a Cleaning support staff at Neerja Modi School. Recently, a batch of students launched an art workshop called ‘Paint for Life’ to make art accessible and to provide a medium for us to unwind and learn new skills. The sessions ranged from the basics of art- blending, to Origami, Name Art, Mandala, and Mehendi. A session I enjoyed was based on Origami; In which we made Sunglasses out of a piece of paper which my children thoroughly enjoyed posing in !’