Artists, students paint wall to celebrate cultures in Egypt

Cairo: Noted Indian and Egyptian artists joined scores of students to paint a wall to celebrate cultures of the two countries through art at an event held here as part of 'India by the Nile' cultural festival.

The three-day festival, which concluded yesterday, offered a space both for experts and amateurs to express and share their thoughts through street art at the event themed as "Living Walls- Street Art".

Renowned Egyptian painter Mohamed Abla teamed up with Indian artist Yogesh Saini and were joined by Egyptian school students to paint a wall in Lycee Al Horreya school in Cairo.

The students who participated in the event were the winners of last year's 'Glimpses of India' painting competition, organised every year by India's embassy in Cairo.

India's ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said the event offered a learning platform for the young participants to unleash their talent as they worked together to celebrate Indian and Egyptian culture through art.

"Such experiments prove to us that children will be the ambassadors and the bridge between India and Egypt. They have shown to us what we should do as grown ups," Bhattacharyya said.

Abla said the experiment was amazing as made students indulge into art.
"It was amazing experiment as we succeeded to busy the students with art, especially in a time when most of the schools are neglecting the arts in general. So this was a good opportunity for the students to play with colours and go with the flaw of their imagination," Abla said.

"We let the students take the lead and choose the colours they like and we were just guiding them. I hope such experiment will be generalised in all of Egypt's schools," said Abla, Egypt's top painter of abstract sceneries.

In 2009, the League of Arab States had selected him to organise an exhibition in New Delhi.

"The experiment was very unique, the children were all very talented and selective. We wish we could have done more," said Saini, an artist and engineer.

One of Saini's first art initiatives was to convert all the 150 garbage bins of Lodi Gardens into public canvases on which amateur and professional artists could experiment with their creativity.

"During the three-day event, me along with Abla designed some of the drawings while the children designed the rest so it was very nice mix of cultures and experiments," Saini said.