Art Spice, a gallery located at Delhi’s Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, is showcasing artworks by Nabendu Roy. The exhibition, titled “She Can & She Will”, complements the nationwide initiative to save the girl child carried out in conjunction with Smile Foundation, a national level development organisation. The show is also supported by The Sunday Guardian. This exhibition aims to create more awareness of the government of India’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana”. Using the universal medium of art, Roy’s paintings aim to create awareness and raise funds to support the larger campaign. The artist dreams of a society that is free from the repression of women and from child abuse. In a conversation with Guardian 20, Roy says, “The works take us back to the childhood. I have tried my hands on many concerns of the girl child and I am trying to convey a message to our society—let us empower girl children with quality education, proper nutrition, good health, adequate skills, and above all a lot of self-confidence; and let us help them live their lives to their full potential.”
The Art Spice Gallery is devoted to promoting contemporary visual arts with a message. Babita Gupta, director, Art Spice Gallery, is of the view that India now enjoys the world’s attention as the emerging destination for art, and therefore the gallery provides a world-class environment to showcase the very best of Indian and international art.
She talks about the social causes where the gallery has been an active part and done considerable work. She says, “Art Spice Gallery has done many shows pertaining to social causes in the past, and this one is also just another step from to highlight the plight of the girl child in India. This thought-provoking exhibition aims to create awareness and raise funds to address the plight of our daughters so that the future of our nation is secure. Here at the gallery, we have dedicated an entire wall at the, called the “Loot Wall”, to the Smile Foundation. Loot Wall has artworks at a very attractive price, of under Rs 25,000, so that more sales can happen, the proceeds from which will go to the welfare projects focused on the girl child at the Smile Foundation. Likewise, the sale percentage from the remaining artworks will also go towards the cause. This show is a positive step from our end to give wings to the our girls’ dreams.”
The NGO Smile Foundation, which supports underprivileged children in achieving their life goals, will be given a part of the proceeds from the sale of the artworks. Rajiv Sharma, general manager, corporate partnerships, Smile Foundation, talks about the role of his organisation in all this. “Smile Foundation will get a percentage from the sale of the paintings at the show. This show is a further extension to our already existing campaign called “She Can Fly”, which talks about empowerment of girl children through education. The theme of this show matched with our ideology of focusing and supporting the underprivileged girl children. Smile Foundation at present is helping almost 12,000 girl children through its Mission Education Programme. Funds generated from the event will be used towards the support of underprivileged girl children through Smile Foundation projects.”
The show is on view till 4 November