Art for thalassemia children
Art India Foundation started working with thalassemia patients especially children and young adults undergoing treatment for thalassemia, due to the interest and support to our project by Indian Red Cross Society Pune. They run a thalassemia clinic at their premises in Rasta Peth. This clinic arranges for blood transfusion for thalassemia patients. We are thankful to Dr. R. V. Kulkarni for his support and encouragement. We also appreciate the support by the trustees and management team at Indian Red Cross Society Pune apart from the staff. Dr. Vijay Ramanan who is in charge of the thalassemia clinic supported our idea of art initiatives for thalassemia patients. It was due to the support of all the people at Indian Red Cross, Pune that that our initiative of art for thalassemia children could get started. This has resulted in running the digital display of art and a steady flow of artworks by thalassemia patients getting created.
Art contest on thalassemia day 2022
On the occasion of Thalassemia Day 2022, we organised an art contest for thalassemia patients jointly with Indian red Cross Society Pune. Sixty six thalassemia patients (mostly children) participated with great enthusiasm. Here are ten select artworks from this art contest.
Digital display of artworks at thalassemia clinic
The first digital display of art by children and young adults, was made operational at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. This concept was appreciated by all. We proposed that something similar should be done at the thalassemia clinic of Indian Red Cross Society, Pune. The management of Indian Red Cross Society, Pune supported the idea and gave us the go ahead to implement it. At this stage, we realised that the TV set at the clinic was an old one and did not support connecting an external pen drive to screen the artwork images as we had planned. I talked to my friend Arvind Kulkarni who has a long experience in the field of TVs and electronics. He suggested that I get in touch with Sateesh Visal who has expertise in displays. Sateesh Visal agreed to help us out in fixing the problem. Despite his heavy workload, he did take out the time and managed to ensure that we could connect a pen drive to the old TV set that the clinic had. When the display started working, Sateesh Visal very graciously declined to submit any bill for the material supplied and services rendered. This story only goes on to show that when the project on hand has a good cause, help comes in from all quarters.
Artworks by thalassemia patients
After the display issue was sorted out, we arranged for art supplies to be kept at the clinic and to be made available to the children who were admitted for treatment. The children have started using the art materials and creating drawings and paintings.
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Very good initiative..
I feel proud of you all as you conduct these initiatives for the different target groups, giving them an opportunity to express themselves