Skip to main content

Display of artworks by street children


Display of artworks by street children


Students of 'Ashar Pothay' with one of the organisers (C)

The StreetWise Art Exhibition was held recently at the Radius Center, Bays Galleria, Gulshan, says a press release. The exhibition, which started on December 7, displayed an impressive array of artworks by street children, aged between 4 and 15. The young artists are students of the 'Ashar Pothay' school, a StreetWise pilot project. Reproductions of the artworks on T-shirts and a set of greetings cards were also on display at the exhibition.

'Ashar Pothay' embarked on its journey in January 2006. Located in Badda, it is like a sanctuary where the children, faced with poverty, hunger, abuse, and the associated dangers of living on the streets, can meet 5 times a week from 9am to 4pm. Here they are taught Math, Bangla, English, Computer Studies, Religion, Music and Art and Crafts. They can also enjoy story telling, coaching and games. In addition they are offered breakfast and lunch. A savings programme ensures that they can contribute and provide for their families while pursuing their dream of getting an education that will help them break free from the shackles of hardship.

Fifty percent of the revenue earned from the sales of these products goes to each child's savings account, while the rest goes back into the StreetWise project. It is StreetWise'e dream that this ongoing effort will allow 'Asar Pothey' to become self-sufficient and graduate to a boarding school in the near future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sculpting Bangladesh

Mushfique Wadud searches out the stories behind the most significant sculptures of Bangladesh, the majority of which are monuments to the struggle and spirit of independence, and learns why each and every one is indispensable to our heritage and identity. On October 18, the chairman of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), Fazlul Haq Amini, on behalf of the Islami Ain Bastobayon Committee threatened to pull down every single statue around the country declaring that the establishment of statues were against the principles of Islam. The statement came in the backdrop of the government decision to pull down five baul statues, from the city’s airport area on October 15, by officials of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and civil aviation authority after protests from a radical Islamic organisation called the Khatame Nobuyat (anti-Ahmaddiya movement), whose members tried to pull down the statue only a day or two earlier. For over a month, different rights’ group, cultural org...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reminiscences in Lahore

Art Reminiscences in Lahore Fayza Huq T ayyaba Begum Lipi’s controversial and iconoclastic artistic works have been admired both at home and overseas. Her endeavours, in connection with the Britto Trust has always been something to write home about. To add to her artistic knowledge, Lipi visited Pakistan recently, this being her second visit. Her enthusiasm to add to her thirst for knowledge has taken her further on to the first world countries-- but they have not always been recounted or recorded, even in passing. Using razor blades, paintings of exotic legendary birds with women's head and other haunting female forms in the veil, Lipi, in her installations at Lahore, created quite a stir in her quest for liberation of the human mind. Lipi's installation in Lahore. The studio where she worked named after RM Naim, is reportedly Pakistan's largest gallery, and draws artists from all over South Asia. Naim is a teacher in L...
Post a Comment
Read more