Mohile Parikh Centre for the Visual Arts, NCPA - Jan and May, 2009

The Pomegranate Workshop and Mohile Parikh Centre for the Visual Arts, NCPA, have forged a dynamic association that has led to some of the most exciting creative output we have witnessed. With Mohile Parikh Centre’s extensive access to the city’s NGOs for children and Pomegranate’s enthusiasm to reach out to new engines of creativity, we didn’t have to look far to find buzzing talent, ambition and focus.

In January at the Mohile Parikh Centre, IIT-B Professor A G Rao of the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) teamed up with Pomegranate to introduce children from 4 different city NGOs to creative 3-D design using bamboo sticks. The bamboo kits, endearingly known as Fundu Sticks, were specially created by Professor Rao. The children were encouraged to give free reign to their imagination and construct spaces of significance to them.

In May, artists Prajakta Madane and Shrinivas Agawane had the kids at Prerna (an NGO working with children of commercial sex workers) putting more than their thoughts to paper! Spread-eagled over a 30m x 5ft roll of paper, the children twisted and contorted themselves in some wacky positions and forms to arrive at life-sized artworks. The subjects ranged from fantastic creatures and vile monsters to work-a-day, world-weary professionals confronted with sudden humourous disasters.

Navi Mumbai Festival - Jan, 2009

At the Festival, we conducted 12 workshops over 3 days with the children of Navi Mumbai in Story Writing and Clay Modeling. Children wrote their own stories after drawing cues that had been specially prepared for the session, and illustrated them using a variety of mixed media materials; while at clay modeling they fashioned their own monster masks using genuine terra cotta clay.

In addition, Pomegranate teamed up with institutions from Navi Mumbai working with hearing-impaired children and special learners to provide them with an outlet for their creative energies.