Students portray changing visual culture at JSW Futurescapes painting competition
Despite the ongoing examination season and sultry weather, the contest witnesses enthusiastic participation of around 200 students; toppers to participate in nationallevel finals
Around 200 school students vied for prizes at the Kochi round of JSW Futurescapes painting competition that was organised on Sunday at Rotary Balabhavan here in association with The Hindu Young World.
The turnout was a pleasant surprise for the organisers, considering the ongoing examination season and sultry weather. A total of 285 students had been shortlisted for the final round, from among the 4,000 who sent in their paintings for the preliminary round. Nine students from among the finalists walked away with the first three prizes in the categories, subjuniors, juniors and seniors.
The first, second and third prizes in these categories went to the following students:
Subjuniors Aadhi Vaiga Raj of Std. V from KV Port Trust; Mariam Navas of Std. IV, Al Ameen Public School, and Johanna Mercy Jerry of Std. IV from Naipunya Public School.
Juniors – Jenitta Susanne of Std. VIII from Naipunya
Public School, Abhudhaan N.S. of Std. VI from Cochin Public School and Subhadra T. of Std. VI from Bhavan’s Adarsha Vidyalaya.
Seniors Gouri Parvathy of Std. XII from Bhavan’s Adarsha Vidyalaya, Sreya Ramesh of Std. IX from St. Antony’s HSS and Meenakshi S. Varma of Std X from Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Girinagar.
The chief guest of the event was Sajan P. John, the Chief Operating Officer of Kochi Water Metro Ltd . He spoke of the role played by creative and innovative ideas in taking humanity ahead..
Vinod L., an Assistant Professor at the Department of Visual Media and Communication, School of Arts and Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, who was the judge at the contest said he has been witnessing steady improvement in the quality of the paintings done by schoolchildren over the years. “This is a reflection of their changing visual culture. Today’s children know how to mix/manage colours and to boldly bring out fantastic visuals. This was not the case till a couple of decades ago when children were wary of mixing colours to express their ideas.”
They are also nowadays adopting unusual angles to draw, thanks to visuals and videos they see through different media. An example is a painting done by a prize winner, who drew a group of people clicking a selfie in a hot air balloon, he added.
All children who attended the event were presented with medals and certificates, while toppers in the three categories received trophies and certificates. Seven participants in each category won consolation prizes, which included a medal and a certificate. The toppers would go on to participate in the nationallevel finals. Its date and venue of the event will be announced later. The event was sponsored by JSW Paints.