Art-a-thon: Overcoming societal barriers through art

Competition sees children from different backgrounds come together.

ISLAMABAD: Students of different schools and different sections of society competed in an art-a-thon organised by the Satrang Gallery and The Citizens Foundation (TCF) at a local hotel on Thursday.

The participants included students from Beaconhouse School, Headstart School, Lahore Grammar School, and TCF schools in the twin cities.

All participants from private schools donated money for the event and proceeds went to TCF schools in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Around 2,000 students participated in the city-wide ‘art-a-thon’.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Asma Khan, director of Satrang Gallery and TCF Islamabad Chapter, said that it was an honour for the gallery to collaborate with TCF for such a noble cause.

“The entire experience of organising a competition that involves students from all sectors of society and all kinds of schools has been very satisfying for us,” she said. “It is beautiful to know that students from TCF schools got a chance to put their skills to use and display them at a platform where their work was not being discriminated against because of their background,” Khan added.

She was very pleased that students from TCF also won at the end of the competition along with children from other schools.

She further said that every child deserves the same opportunities, regardless of the kind of school they go to. “Talent does not depend on the school a child goes to, and that was precisely the idea behind hosting such an event where we could give students of underprivileged schools the feeling that their talent also matters, even if it was just for one day. I hope this could happen at a national level on a grander scale,” she said.

Elaborating on the idea of the event, Asma said that it was meant to inculcate responsibility into the younger generation towards the lesser fortunate from a young age.

The criteria for judging the artwork was observation, imagination, creativity, originality, skills and colour lines. Husna and Naveed Akram, students from TCF, bagged first prizes in categories 1 and 2, and in category 5 and 6, respectively. Other winners included Rayan Sohail from Schola Nova, and Raheem Zeejah from Frobels International.

Hamda Khan, Abdullah Khan, Eshal Suhail, Erina Bilal and Naveed Akram were also awarded prizes for their work.

The work of these students displayed maturity and skill. The work is on display in the hallways of the Satrang Gallery for students and their parents to see.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2016.