Hyderabad: Senior artist Surya Prakash, a genial person at the best of times, was treating a canvas with angry brush strokes. Srikanth Dhunde let loose some of his characteristic strokes in red and wrote, on another canvas, “Ma lautkar aayenge (Mom, we will return).”
Such was the emotion that charged Shilparamam on Sunday, where the artist community came together to express their feelings against terrorism, specifically the recent massacre of 132 schoolchildren at an Army School in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The artists had come together for an initiative by art@Telangana, a non-profit forum, to create a space where artists and intellectuals could express their solidarity with the victims of terror.
They included sculptors, film-makers, musicians and theatre personalities. The three canvases will be sent to Unicef by art@Telangana.
Artists drew messages like “stop terrorism”, “death of dreams” to express the loss.
The three large canvases were filled will sad and startled faces and tearful eyes. An artist drew a notebook with droplets of blood on it. Anger reflected clearly on the faces of many artists.
“This is not a compilation of artists who will be presenting their works. The whole point of doing it in a public space like Shilparamam was to get people involved in the process of expression,” said B. Narsing Rao, reputed artist and a core committee member of art@Telangana.
“At a very human level, we are all affected by violence and as artists we are using our medium to express it. The message we want to send out is, ‘We are with you’. In the end, everyone craves for peace. And that’s the message of hope we want to send out,” he said.
Artist Sanjay Ashtaputre has organised a music performance accompanied by Jaywant Naidu on the Hawaiian guitar.
“The heartless gunmen shot 133 children most of whom were between 12 and 16 years old. Reacting to this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror, we called upon the art community and intellectuals to stand up together and express their solidarity. The artists are expressing their pain and sorrow for the children,” said eminent painter Laxman Aelay, a trustee at art@Telangana.
