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Creating beauty from waste
Johnny Mikhail at the pavement gallery.
JOHNNY MIKHAIL is best known for his paintings of trees. He prides in capturing them on canvas in their various shapes, sizes and `moods'. Often, his paintings look like caricatures, but they bring alive the gnarled, yet mysterious beauty of trees.
An exhibition of objects of art made from discarded material, organised by Mikhail on the pavement in front of the Secretariat on Saturday, the World Environment Day, brought out another facet of his talent. "There is no such thing as a waste product in the world; everything has some use or the other," he says.
The tree paintings were there, but apart from these, dozens of paintings and sculptures made from waste products such as egg-shells, disposable plates and cups and paper-mache egg-trays as well as natural material such as dry leaves, dry flowers, seeds, twigs and pieces of bark, were on display.
A good number of these artefacts were made by the children who participated in a two-month vacation camp in the city under Mikhail's supervision. About 20 children, aged between three and 12, took part in the camp, which was organised by Asian Waves Kalapadana Kendram at Vellayambalam.
Once the children got the hang of things, their fertile imagination took over. They learnt to recognise the artistic value of waste material and, with a little help, to put them to use. For instance, a four-year-old has turned a coconut-shell turned into a kitten's face by giving it a pair of coir whiskers.
Mikhail himself makes it a habit to pick up discarded things and store them in his shoulder bag during his journeys. He says these days most parents do not allow children to play outdoors, let alone discover nature. During the camp, his attempt had been to introduce the children to nature's own workshop, and the results had been rewarding. "I plan to conduct more such camps in the near future," he says.
By Harish Govind M
Photo: S. Gopakumar
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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