This beautiful, large-scale, graphite drawing is called Y= YELLOW and features Himandri, a pupil at a tiny community school in Oriya Busti who was aged six at the time she is pictured.
Oriya Busti lies a little over a kilometre from the abandoned Union Carbide factory in an area where the ground water is contaminated by toxic chemical waste dumped at the factory while it was in operation.
The picture from which the drawing is made, by photographer Micha Patault, was taken in one of the school’s two class rooms close to the black board. Students chose the word “Yellow” in order to illustrate the letter “Y”. Yellow can be the colour of the third chakra, yellow can symbolize self-esteem, self-confidence, power, and the capacity to attain one’s goal.
Y= YELLOW is one from a series of six large-scale drawings that depict children and the burdens that they carry. The drawings constitute one part of an exhibition, ‘It’s A Hard World For Little Things’, by artist C.A.Halpin. The exhibition consists of two series of large-scale graphite drawings on paper along with three sculptures and is about to be shown at London’s Herrick Gallery.
IT’S A HARD WORLD FOR LITTLE THINGS: C. A. Halpin, 28 July – 19 August 2017
Herrick Gallery, 93 Piccadilly, London W1J 7NQ
Opening times: Wednesday – Saturday 12-6pm
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