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EXHIBITION – CHILDREN PAINTING WITH PLANT COLORS
Thursday, November 20
- Melahuset
- 5:00 P.M.
EWA-Norway invites you to the exhibition “Children paint with plant colors”, with paintings by children, youth and young adults from eastern India, in the metropolis of Kolkata and villages north of Kolkata.
Melahuset Upstairs
2nd floor (press 200)
OPENING: Thursday, November 20th, 5:00 PM–7:00 PM
Exhibition opening hours:
Friday 21 November at 12–17
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 November at 12–16
About the exhibition:
On the walls you will see something very special: Paintings made by children, teenagers and young adults – with colors taken from nature itself.
Next to the pictures hang texts, translated from Bengali, in which the young artists tell what it means to them to paint with plant colors.
They have collected berries, flowers, leaves and seeds themselves, which they have crushed and pressed – along with ginger root, charcoal and various types of roots. You can also make colors from certain stones, and the knowledge of this is still developing.
The oldest among the young artists have been experimenting with natural colors for many years, and have also learned to make adhesives that make the colors last.
In 2025, children and young people gather in eleven groups each week to paint. The most experienced group – with ten to fifteen young people – has been painting for over ten years. Their gaze is curious and free.
The motifs range from birds, insects, butterflies and elephants to people in various positions, wild joy, repressed women's lives and the most imaginative forests. There are both realistic and surreal expressions.
Their work is nature, craftsmanship and imagination – all combined into one expression. Some of them, who started painting at the age of 8-9, now teach children of the same age.
In the exhibition rooms you will also see short videos showing the young people in their painting activities, and you will hear singing from the sister organization in northern Bangladesh, where children, youth and young adults learn to sing folk songs and play folk instruments.
