He Paints People, On People

Werner Dornik, a multimedia artist from Bad Ischl, Austria, recalls his first encounter with the leprosy-afflicted. He was 18 and on his first visit to India in 1977 when he saw some of them begging on the streets. He wanted to help. On his return home, he sent donations to a leprosy home in India and, in 1981, contributed the proceeds of his photo exhibition in Austria to leprosy homes in India. Somewhere in between, Werner says, he had found his calling. A chance meeting in 1995 in Vienna with Padma (daughter of former president of India, R. Venkataraman), who works for the rehabilitation of the leprosy-affected, set the ball rolling. On one of his visits to Bharatapuram, Werner was very impressed with the ‘kolam’ (rangoli) done by the inmates whose fingers were deformed and reduced to stubs. Why not use art as a therapy for them, thought the 48-year-old artist. Thus was born the Bindu Art School with 17 students in Bharatapuram colony in 2005.

The idea was to let the students have a free run with their imaginations. They were simply given sheets of paper and initially only two colours—black and white. Recalls Werner: "There were no rules nor any such thing as good or bad. Nor did I go into any technical details of art. My students were free to paint anything." Mountains, trees, flowers, gods and goddesses came alive as the students let go, balancing the brushes secured firmly with rubber bands to their deformed fingers. Three weeks later, Werner gave them blue paint. Yellow was next and finally red. Werner lived with them. He was joined by friend Tone Fink, an artist from Schwarzenberg, Austria. With his wit, he gave the classes a certain lightness.

In March ’06, the paintings were exhibited in Chennai. For the first time, the spotlight was on Bharatapuram’s artists. They had never dreamt of dignity or self-pride, leave alone their work being exhibited. One of the students, former handloom worker Armugam, who was forced to take to begging when he was afflicted with the disease, says, "I am so happy today. I realise I can also be creative. And at night when I sleep I dream of colours." Seventy-seven-year-old T.S. Srinivasan and Rani Aandi (58) echo the feelings of sheer rapture.

Padma has been coordinating with the inmates of Bharatapuram. She will accompany Jayalakshmi Jayakumar (26), Udayakumar Narayanasamy (41), Rani Aandi (58) and Ramamoorthy Elumalai (60), four students of this unique art school, to Vienna for the exhibition next month. Besides providing occupational therapy, the school is a source of income too for the students. Fifty per cent of earnings get divided among them; the remainder is used to train new students. Werner and Padma have set in place a system that can be run by the inmates of the colony with some measure of support from social workers.

The results have been so impressive that it is supported by the ICCR, the Austrian government and the Nippon Foundation, Japan. Reputed Indian artists including S.H. Raza, Aparna Caur are also involved. This has brought a new meaning to their lives hitherto tinged with black and grey. Summing up the work Werner says, "This is my art."

Contact 3/357, AGS Colony, Beach Layout, Kottivakkam, East Coast Road, Chennai 6000 41. Tel: 24511671, 24511655. Contact Werner: w.dornik@utanet.at