Not Just Art: Gallery dedicated to disabled artists opens at UNESCO House, New Delhi

The unique gallery has over 125 paintings done by disabled artists across 15 Indian states and showcases their amazing talent with colour and form

'Discovering Abilities' Artworks of Winners with Disabilities Source: IANS

As part of an inclusive initiative, a temporary art gallery titled 'Not Just Art', dedicated to Indian artists with disabilities was inaugurated by union minister G. Kishan Reddy at UNESCO Cluster House here on Monday.

The unique gallery has over 125 paintings done by disabled artists across 15 Indian states and showcases their amazing talent with colour and form.

It will be open for public viewing on November 5-7 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., UNESCO said.

To honour the talent of artists with disability, the first edition of 'Discovering Ability' art awards was also organised by Youth4Jobs Foundation, with UNESCO and HSBC.

The award celebrates the artistic abilities of persons with a disability, who have hitherto remained a largely unrecognised talent pool.

The artists were awarded a cash prize of Rs 50,000. They are Amrit Khurana and Rohit Anand, both autistic artists; Mallika Khaneja, an artist affected by cerebral palsy; Y. Raghavendran, an artist with speech and hearing impairment; Niral Hareshbhai Swati, an artist with intellectual disability; Mohammed Yasar who participated in the Paralympic Art World Cup in 2019; and Durgesh Kumar Rathore, an artist with dyslexia and bibliophobia.

Winners with Chief Guest G. Kishan Reddy at Discovering Ability Art Awards 2019 (Source: IANS)

"Enabling the participation of persons with disabilities in artistic and cultural life is a key priority for UNESCO. (The initiative adds to) disability-focused interventions in India. It signals our commitment to empowering persons with disabilities to become both mainstream consumers and producers of art forms.," Eric Falt, UNESCO Director, New Delhi said.

"If it's the tag of just an artist, it would hardly get noticed. If we say, disabled artist, people will still sit up and take notice. The awards feel like a great recognition," Aarti Khurana, the mother of an autistic artist Amrit Khurana told IANS.

The jury was a panel of three eminent judges from the Department of Fine Arts, Sarojini Naidu College of Arts and Communication, Hyderabad, UNESCO said.

As per Youth4Jobs head, Meera Shenoy said the initiative will also help artists develop market linkages, and they will continue to sell art online and through museums under the 'Not Just Art' platform.