Faceless girls hanging from nooses — a painting, showcased at Small Wonders exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram, is all the more unsettling as the artist is just 11 years old. Arya Selvan is not the only child at the exhibition who has depicted child abuse on A3-size sheets.
Painting by Arya Selvan
Ten-year-old Bhadra S. has painted reverse evolution in which man is shown going back to being a savage being. Above that animal hangs corpses of women and girls. Bhadra says that she has been hearing about child abuse on the news. She and her father G. Jayalal work like a team. They both read about child abuse articles and decided upon the theme together.
“Kundara, where a child committed suicide (following abuse), is near my home,” says Arya. She says that on the day the news came out, her school headmistress had a talk with the children, to make them aware of child abuse.
In Arya’s case, it was her mother Manju S. who helped her with the idea. In this painting, one of the nooses is empty. Underneath stands other girl children. One does not know whether the children are waiting for their turn, or standing as witnesses to the tragedy. “The work raises a question to society,” Manju says.
Bhadra S. and Arya Selvan
These are intended to be a telling commentary of the times. Interestingly, the girls in the paintings of both Arya and Bhadra are faceless. Arya says she did it because child abuse cases are no longer isolated incidents. “It did not happen to just one individual. We hear about so many girls who had to face it. That’s why the girls don’t have distinct features,” she says. The painting also depicts girl children standing as witnesses, before the hanging corpses. Arya says that it is usually girl children who have to face abuse.
These are not the only paintings by these artists, and they are not the only artists here. But they are the youngest of the 11 artists whose works are exhibited at the Museum Art Gallery. It concludes on April 20. It is conducted by Students’ Nest Creative Group, Kollam. Its chairman K.V. Jyothilal says that the students are free thinkers and teachers don’t try to influence their thoughts. “What you see here is their perspective. Their works can provoke questions among grown-ups,” he says.
