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Dubai: Local artists conduct art lessons for the underprivileged girls

Every big dream starts with a small dream. When each one of us in the community gets together to do our little bit, the dreams of little ones stand a chance to come true. On a recent Saturday morning, artists from the city joined hands to introduce the young ones to the dream of pursuing arts as a passion, hobby, or even profession. Hosted by ZeeArts, a global art organisation with the core intent to connect and empower artists worldwide, the Little Picasso initiative was helmed by Zaahirah Muthy, director and art activist, ZeeArts. “We would like to give the girls a chance to embrace, believe and paint those little dreams,” she said. “The artworks will help them reflect and reconnect with their dreams.”

Little Picasso is a socially engaged artistic initiative and has so far touched the soul of over 300 children coming from different vulnerabilities, including autistic and physically challenged children, the refugees and children living in the pocket of poverty in Dubai, Lebanon and Mauritius. At their recent event, Little Picasso Atelier, they supported the underprivileged children from Bangladesh, under the leadership of Maria Cristina Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Maria Conceicao in 2015. The event was held at Holiday Inn Dubai, Al Barsha, and was supported by Forza Ragazzi, and volunteers and friends. “Under the theme, My Dream, we are happy to support the girls from Dhaka, Bangladesh, through Maria Cristina Foundation that has been effectively breaking the chains of inter-organisation cycles of poverty through education,” added Zaahirah.

From ballerinas to doctors and pilots to butterflies, the girls expressed their aspirations on canvas as they played with colours under the guidance of female artists, including Abeer Al Edani, Milena, Mladenova, Madeleine, Kurtsdotter, Anastasie Akibode, Afshan Quraishi, Sadie Sulaiman, Shabnam Habib, Asareh Ibrahimpour and Kavita Sriram. “I was lucky to be a part of the project with a beautiful, talented girl, Lucky. I gained more than what I gave during the process of art creation, for Lucky shared experiences of her life with me and I was inspired by how she spoke of staying focused to realise her dream of becoming a pilot,” said the artist Sadie Sulaiman. Interestingly, Lucky’s work included a Rapunzel and an airplane, with the words, ‘I want to be a pilot’. Another artist Kavita Sriram added, “Mentoring the young girl gave me a chance to connect with my inner-self. It was overall a holistic experience for me.” With the aim of connecting artists with these children by mentoring them to create art pieces, the workshop introduced them to their hidden artistic skills and also spread a message of compassion.

purva@khaleejtimes.com