HEAL OUR PEOPLE, OUR PLANET
The Art fraternity is using their resources to fund-raise and increase the level of consciousness for all humanity and aid those in need during the Pandemic.
We are currently in a state of trepidation. While many say that mankind is reaping the rotten fruit born from the seeds that they sowed bearing their ill-will towards nature; there are many innocent bystanders who have been caught in the cross-fire of this unfortunate fate that has swept the planet. With the carbon emissions polluting our air, chemical sewage sludge ruining our waters and other medical malpractices leading to the spread and mutation of the respiratory syndrome COVID 19 virus: mankind has much to answer for, to the planet.
Given these dark times, those who are more fortunate have finally risen up to assist those in need; with funds, aid and resources. Pandemic is not one country’s issue, it is a global issue and one of us is not safe until all of us are. In the face of these challenges, art institutions, artists and collectors have come together to help. We specially look at efforts in the Capital.
Vadehra Art Gallery and FICA have banded together to raise funds towards getting ICU beds at MAA Hospital in Bombay and Delhi. The Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (AADI) is a foundation for children with disabilities dealing with the Covid crisis in Delhi. The organization is approaching people to consider donating a minimum of Rs. 50,000 to get ‘the gift of art.’
The gift in this instance is a moving and poignant photograph of a youngster holding up a balloon that reads “I want to live with no fear” by Shilpa Gupta.
“This photograph is from an ongoing series ‘I want to live with no fear’ which I started in 2010, where several hundreds of balloons have been distributed on the streets of places like Cincinnati, Porto, Mumbai, Copenhagen, to name a few,” says Gupta.
It is a universal image, with the feeling that can be applied to many aspects of life; in particular, the pandemic and the effect it has had on people’s mental health, besides the actual physical toll it has taken. To find out more about the fund-raising efforts drop a line to info@ficart.org to confirm once the donation is done. So far, the project has raised over Twenty Five lakhs.
Individuals like Bhavna Kakar, director of Latitude 28 and editor of TAKE on Art, has been running her own helpline on Instagram, WhatsApp and her phone besides doing the actual ground work with her team, like getting the hospitals in Delhi and NCR checked out, verifying the numbers for help and assistance, arranging for oxygen cylinders and concentrators, and generally donating to causes through her networks of artists and friends.
As India’s Covid-19 cases rise, the need of the hour is to support charities working to provide succor. Delhi Art Gallery’s ‘Hope for Humanity Fundraiser Sale’ has raised an amazing target of Rs 1 Crore for three charities- Sood Charity Foundation, Khalsa Aid India and Hemkunt Foundation– with a donation of Fifty one works from its collection with 100% proceeds shared equally between them.
“I have mixed feelings about the need for this fundraiser- on one hand, I am happy at being able to contribute, however modestly, to the enormous task of healing our people and nation in this critical hour of need, on the other I am dismayed that we have allowed things to escalate to such a pass even as normalcy appeared within our grasp,” says Ashish Anand the CEO and Managing Director, DAG.
“We hope our Hope for Humanity Fundraiser Sale becomes a beacon to help overcome the worst exigencies of this pandemic by empowering Covid warriors, saving lives and restoring livelihoods with dignity and grace. Stay safe and help us to heal India,” adds Anand.
Shaji P points out that during the Pandemic it’s difficult to serve and showcase art works. “However, we at the Gallery 1000A are continuing with our on-going Exhibition, Pratibimb: Stories in Print by Women Artists, curated by Rajan Shripad Fulari. We are still continuing with its promotional activities online and simultaneously working on the Well documented Catalogue of it,” he informs. Gallery intends to help some of the young artists in need during these difficult times so we have thought of doing various online activities in Visual Arts to support them like talks and lecture demonstrations. We suggest everyone to stay home and be safe,” says Shaji.
The Remembering Avinash Bhalerao project with Ketto.org has also raised funds to around Twelve lakhs, for his families since the designer artist passed away suffering from COVID complications and the-36-year-old was the breadwinner of his family with a pregnant wife and an elderly mother to support.
Saffronart is hosting an online art auction entitled ‘Art Rises for India’ on 20 May 2021. In view of the raging Covid-19 epidemic affecting India and the world at large, this is a timely initiative wherein all proceeds of the ‘no reserve’ auction, including reduced buyer’s premium, will be donated to grass root level NGOs working to offer relief to the afflicted in these tough times.
As a conscious and conscientious voice in the world of contemporary Indian and Southeast Asian art, Akar Prakar along with the artists they represent have submitted eight artworks created by its prominent artists. These include Gopal Ghose, Ganesh Haloi, D Devraj, C. Douglas, Jayashree Chakravarty, Debanjan Roy, Debasish Mukherjee, and Piyali Sadhukhan, all of whom have donated generously. Jayashree Chakravarty feels that “The auction is a very valuable gesture wherein artists are uniting for a common cause and helping society”, while Haloi has been extremely distressed about the way the administration has handled or rather “not” handled the second wave of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, KNMA and HCL are jointly raising funds to extend support for COVID-19 care facilities in NCR to bolster the State’s efforts to manage the large number of infections in the National Capital. While Mrs Kiran Nadar is well known in the artworld as a connoisseur and supporter of Modern and contemporary art for the last two decades, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including the introduction of the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers.
HCL’s and KNMA’s support includes assistance in the form of more than five hundred hospital beds at various facilities such as the Commonwealth Games Village, Holy Family Hospital, Sama Hospital and Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi; and Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida Authority. HCL and KNMA have also been extending its support for critical human resources to treat the high number of COVID positive patients at the CWG facility, by partnering with ‘Doctors for You’ to provide Doctors, Nursing Staff, Orderlies, Supervisors, Counsellors, Lab technicians and Administration staff.
FOREVER DELHI: A series of contemplatively arresting black-and-white photographs by Shalini Passi, is a fund-raising exhibition for COVID-19 Relief. The proceeds of the sales will be donated to charity, given the situation we are facing due to the ongoing Pandemic. Proving once again that ‘art can be such an empowering tool’, Passi has stepped forward to lend support to Goonj and Meherbaan India Foundation through the fundraising campaign.
There are many more who are working on an individual level to help raise funding and resources who are in fact too busy to share their information with us, but they surely are sharing their goodwill.
Text by Georgina Maddox
Image Courtesy: Vadehra Art Gallery and the artist, DAG, Saffron Art and the artists, Akar Prakar
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