ENSEMBLE 2020
Annual Art Exhibition – Akshar Arbol International School
Ensemble, the Annual Art Exhibition of Akshar Arbol International School is an initiative taken to showcase the students’ artistic skills, creativity, and understanding of their progressive learning throughout the year. Every year the students from Grades 6-9 exhibit an array of artworks that reflects their learning on various topics such as still-life, landscapes, portrait study, study of master paintings, and expressions through art. Art enriches the students’ learning through the process of inquiry, exploration, and creation by empowering them to develop versatile skills and become more expressive.
The journey of ‘Ensemble’ began in 2017 and the exhibition has since become synonymous with artworks which showcases the unique skills and creativity, each student is endowed with.In its fourth edition this year, ‘Ensemble 2020’ commenced on the 27th of February. The two-day exhibition was inaugurated by Padma Shri Awardee Mr. Manohar Devadoss, a versatile artist known for his pen and ink illustrations. His narrative, which had immense personal touches, stood as a stellar testimony to the endurance of the human spirit in the face of adversity and set an impactful tone for the whole exhibition. His words and actions, like many others who have visited the school before him, inspired the students and drove home the sense of being better human beings above everything else, a sentiment that aligns well with Akshar Arbol International School’s ideology of nurturing young minds to become the best version of themselves.
Akin to its earlier editions, ‘Ensemble 2020’ too aimed at setting the bar high in terms of quality. The various artworks of the students placed on display deeply explored themes, mediums, and techniques. This year too, the most sought afteraspect of Ensemble, the Art Installations, the show stoppers of the exhibition, owing to their grandeur visual expression of sensitive topics in a subtle and impactful manner drew the public eye.
This year’s art installation ‘Invisible Identities’ by the students of Grade 8 signifies how we humans overlook and consider most others invisible in the name of discrimination. Discrimination in the big picture is one thing, but often the smaller, less apparent forms of discrimination in today’s world goes largely unnoticed or worse ignored. ‘Invisible Identities’ is an attempt to give an image and voice to those who are invisible to the rest of the world. The installation consists of two major parts: ‘The Pillar of Discrimination’ and ‘The Dark Room of Invisible Voices’. ‘The Pillar of Discrimination’ represents discrimination through one’s identity. Each side of the pillar represents a different form of one’s identity such as gender, caste, and religion, skin complexion through portrait photographs of people taken by various photographers. The fourth side of the pillar consists of the students themselves to explain how they all have different belief systems and appearances and yet are one in a school community.
‘The Dark Room of Invisible Voices’ echoed the voices of the invisible identities through the audio recordings of people subjected to discrimination and showcases their thoughts through glowing neon colors. The students themselves were a part of this installation where they reflected upon the stereotypical views of the society in which people are judged by their looks and not who they are.
‘Ensemble 2020’ went beyond its apparent definition of being an art exhibition. It was an unapologetic mirror which reflected the grim realities of the current society where the subtilties of several forms of discrimination was reflected through the artistic perspectives of the students of Akshar Arbol International School whilst raising the question, “are we biased without realizing it”?
“Identity is what defines you and contrary to popular beliefs, it is not in a name or a race or a religion or a skin color. It is what you would stand for even if the whole world doesn’t, what you do for another living being and what legacy you would leave behind for a better future” say the students of Grade 8 (AAIS)
