Colours of Life 2016: Hope floats

It’s the 12th edition of the Colours of Life exhibition organised  by Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA). Titled Strokes of Hope, the agenda is to raise funds for underprivileged children suffering from cancer from the sale of paintings. Eminent artists such as Brinda Chudasama Miller, Charan Sharma, Jagannath Paul, Jaideep Mehrotra, Jayasri Burman, Lalitha Lajmi, Samir Mondal, Vrindavan Solanki and Yashwant Shirwadkar among others have contributed their works for the exhibition, curated by Piali Syam who has been curating Colours of Life for the past 10 years now. Excerpts from a conversation:

Can you tell us a bit about the cause and how it has benefited from these art shows?

CPAA has been working to alleviate the pain for cancer patients since 1969. The organisation has come a long way and decades of experience has taught us how to address the various issues directly and indirectly affected by cancer. Raising funds to support our activities is crucial and we plan various events which help us to raise funds. The annual art exhibition is one amongst them. Proceeds from the art exhibition has been primarily used for childhood cancer patients.

How do you go about curating the art shows every year?

I have grown up in a family of artists and am also a graduate from the Govt College of Art and Crafts, in Kolkata. Over the years, interacting with the buyers has given me knowledge about the various genres of works that interest them. This exhibition’s uniqueness is its dynamic range. Every year, I consciously include various genres of artists including the Indian masters all the way to emerging artists. This helps art lovers with different interests or budgets to find something of their choice. The collection is a blend from artists all over India and it gives me immense joy to include artists who have not had the opportunity to show their works in Mumbai.

Tell us a bit about this show.

This year the collection has been carefully put together keeping the economic condition in mind. Viewers will get to see a very affordable range of works and the artists have also been very cooperative in pricing their works sensibly so that the prices are attractive and we are able to optimise the sale. Every collection has some new artists and this year too, there are some new ones. All I can say is there is something that everyone will like as the collection is truly dynamic.