Their art beats for Kashmir

You never know what emerges from the whimsical mind of Prathima Muniyappa the 25year old with flyaway hair and gentle mienLatika Nehra graphic artist I havenrsquot been to Kashmir but the first thing that comes to my mind is all those travellers who don the beautiful traditional Kashmiri attire and pose redcheeked and the beautiful locals themselves I wanted to show the ripples in Kashmir and a local Kashmiri with fierce eyes who embodies the strength those stranded must have had through it allOn a regular day the museum designer and heritage conservationist doodles art for menu cards of panipuriwalas and tariff cards of taxi drivers On a particularly inspiring morning two years ago she urged her friends to write letters which she then sent to strangers and developed it into the project Letters to StrangersThis artwork by Subrata Bhowmick a leading graphic artist in India is one of the 18 works that won the Presidentrsquos National AwardTwo weeks ago at a Delhi workshop on designing Surrealist posters for a cause Kashmir unexpectedly sprung up in Muniyapparsquos mind and with it came the news reports of the floods Later that day Muniyappa a graduate from the National Institute of Design Ahmedabad sent ldquothousands of emails to fellow designers the alumni and everybody she knewrdquo to build a collaborative art project now called Design for Kashmir which will be put to use to garner funds for the floodaffected KashmirisPrashant Miranda Torontobased animator and illustrator Last year I spent a week alone in a home on Nigeen Lake It was paradise There was an overwhelming sense of sadness to the place but the people had kept the place alive through their art tradition and craft I hope that my artwork helps bring about some awareness of these inherently peaceful artistic beautiful peopleldquoI live by one simple philosophyrdquo says Muniyappa as she leans forward in her seat ldquofind your gift and look for a purpose to give it awayrdquo The collaborativersquos core team member Unnati Agarwal says ldquoThe collected artwork will be printed on products such as dresses wallets coasters mugs sketchbooks shower curtains posters and so on sold online and the funds will be sent to Kashmirrdquo This week the duo will register an NGO for the collaborative which will help channel their funds betterAditi Gupta founder Menstrupedia My artwork tries to channel the beauty of rain which happened to wreak havoc in Kashmir this time The Camel Ink bottles floating around signify the message of hope I have for KashmirisTill date 20 artists across the country mdash including Subrata Bhowmick one of Indiarsquos leading graphic designers who has received 18 Presidentrsquos National Awards mdash have contributed their art to Design for Kashmir and artwork by many others is in the making The duo is visibly stunned at the response ldquoA Dubaibased design studio got in touch with me and offered to rope in every team member for this cause An artist who is eight months pregnant has offered to design an entire range of products mdash ceramic plates home deacutecor products and so on mdash before childbirth A printer wants to print a range of these products at wholesale rates I am astonished at how a terribly optimistic idea is just falling in placerdquo says MuniyappaAnunaya Chaubey senior faculty Young India Fellowship Art explores human experience the way other media do not It makes us look at calamity at a dimension hitherto unseen unfelt Here I have tried to evoke the anguish and terror of somebody whose next breath will be beneath the water I wanted to capture the immediacy of the sensation many Kashmiris have faced during the floodsPrathima Muniyappa PicShadab KhanAs of now Muniyappa and Agarwal have dipped into personal funds and those of her friends for Design for Kashmir ldquoWersquove been working on goodwill yet but we need capital once we begin production of courserdquo Muniyapparsquos friends are helping her with a business model and she is ready to roll out production by November 1 ldquoWersquore looking at sending funds by winter because thatrsquos when the region needs a lot of helpHopefully wersquoll be able to help Kashmir see a brighter Christmasrdquo she says