Yoga, dance, craft make workshop fun

The Indian Arts And Film Association (IAAFA) conducted a very successful Children’s Holiday Workshop between April 16-20. During five fun-filled days of activities, children from 5 to 14 years of age, were inducted into a range of activities which were designed towards improving their social skills and giving them a chance to develop their potential towards future opportunities.

Their enthusiasm was apparent as the children arrived bright eyed and happy each morning to begin the day with a hearthealthy yoga session conducted by professionals in the yoga industry. Apart from yoga, the children were exposed to a wide variety of dance techniques including line dancing, Bollywood dance and pop dance, to name a few. They were also able to harness their artistic and creative abilities as they eagerly participated in arts, crafts, jewellery and clay modelling lessons, creating their own mementos from these classes, and showing them to their admiring parents. In addition, the children had the opportunity to present their own vocal talents in a singing activity where they learnt how to improve not only their singing, but also their public speaking and presenting abilities.

A visit from the local Scouts and Guides Club encompassed a series of activities that allowed the children to learn about the importance of teamwork and co-operation. To expose them to their Australian heritage, a member of the native community was invited to visit the children, and display and explain to them a variety of aboriginal arts and instruments, and their uses.

On the final day, Ms Melissa Monteiro, Executive Director from the Migration Resources Centre and Ms Alison Rahil, Actu Community Organiser presented coming together and making this programme an outstanding success.”

It was the collective effort of core members of IAAFA - guest attending, but also by the parents.

They look forward to upcoming events from IAAFA.

Pranav Shivashankar

BY JYOTi SHANk AR

Ifirst met Nafisa Naomi in March 2010, when she had just won the Packing Room Prize for her painting of Glenn A Baker at the Archibald art competition, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. I remember thinking, “Now, here is somebody who lives life king size!”, and it was not just the size of her paintings that made me think that. It was her vivacious personality and obvious talent. A Sydney-based artist born in Mumbai and raised in Hong Kong and Sydney, Nafisa’s father has a Parsi Indian background, while her mother is Dutch. Less than two years later, she has produced an astounding body of artwork, a series of paintings and sculptures titled ‘PAssION’, which exhibited at the Richard Martin Art Gallery at Woollahra recently. The paintings were well-received with over 200 people attending the opening night.

This substantial body of art covering 18 months of work, breaks new ground by combining painting with sculpture, both in their purest forms. The play of Passion – the slow build up of this passion from realisation to fulfilment is depicted by the increasing closeness of the female form and the flowers. Australian wildflowers have resilience, toughness, even a masculine side that compliments the feminine figure. Just as Australian native plants thrive when there is a fire, women are tested under fire too. “We suffer adversities and as a result of surviving these we become more mature and beautiful,” believes Nafisa.

Using sculpture as a media was new for Nafisa, and a part of her learning. Her unique technique of using resin with bronze was to bring out the colours from her paintings into the sculptures. The flower petals were created in resin so that she could juxtapose the rich colours of resin with the strength of bronzes. “I could be working with film for my next project,” she says. “My work takes on its own life and does not remain static, though the subject matter is always around beauty and nature. This comes out in different forms, but is new each time.” Nafisa indicates that her strong sense of colour and compulsive use of vibrant colours - so unlike Western artists - can definitely be traced to her Indian roots.

In September 2012, Nafisa will stop the gradual daily destruction of wildlife and environment happening everywhere. Nafisa literally wishes to ‘draw’ our attention to this matter.

Animal Works is not the only charity with which Nafisa is involved. She participates annually in creating a painting using jeans donated by celebrities. Hugh Jackman, Cameron Diaz, Hilary Swank and Mick Jagger donate a signed pair of their jeans which Nafisa incorporates into a painting of the celebrity which is auctioned at the Jeans for Genes Denim Dinner, an annual fundraiser of the Children’s Medical Research Institute. Last year, Nafisa’s painting with Cate Blanchett’s jeans was purchased by Addisons, the law firm, for $8000.

Working from a studio in Mosman, set amid the beauty of natural bushland with Sydney Harbour as a backdrop, it is easy to see where her inspirations come from. Nafisa’s award-winning paintings of native Australian flowers and plants, Regeneration, won a gold medal at the Florence Biennale in 2007, chosen from over 800 entries by artists from 60 nations. A wellspring of beauty and talent, Nafisa seems to live the words of Nelson Mandela, “There is no passion to be found playing smallin settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”.