The Wall of Elephants

On a bright Sunday morning, a bunch of high-enthu kids gathered to paint a wall. Kids between the ages of 6 yrs and 68 yrs. The topic for the day was Gond Art. Gond, meaning green mountains, is an art style from Gond region of Madhaya Pradesh. The tribals in Gond region paint animals and nature using natural colors. Inspired by the Gond tribals, we decided to paint animals and nature. Hmmm...what do we draw? How about elephants??? How about making some part of nature emerge from the elephant’s body!?!?

There was no teaching of how to draw. No review or correction. The only instruction was to draw an elephant out of their imagination without using an eraser. Then add the elements of nature to your elephant. Everyone drew their version of elephants. We had elephants bowing to another "Guru" elephant, an elephant who was going crazy,  we had elephant meditating, entwined elephants, an elephant turning upside down, one elephant wondering where all the elephants came from....one child also painted spider man elephant! There was a story and imagination behind every elephant. The day got hotter but fun, laughter and zeal to paint only got better!

While some painted, some took rest, some captured the moments in their camera, some served sandwiches, pasta, water while some surprised us with ice-cream, some showered shade, love and much more. Fun, achievement, togetherness, diversity, no-judgement, co-creation, interdependence  and that's the magic that forms a community. 

At Catharsis, we create communities like these...