Check Out How Artists From Japan And India Have Transformed This Remote Bihar School

NEW DELHI: Have you heard of Sujata village in Bihar? Didn’t think so. The amazing thing about this village is a school known as the Niranjana Public Welfare School -- that organises the Wall Art festival every year. Artists from India and Japan are invited, and spend three weeks in the village adorning the school’s walls with their amazing, amazing art. The students get to interact with the artists, and truly learn by ‘doing’ as the artists hold workshops and classes.

According to a story in The Better India, “The initiative hopes to help resolve various issues confronting villages in India such as those regarding poverty, education and employment through cultural and artistic exchange.”

The initiative began in 2006, when about fifty students from Tokyo Gakugei University donated money that they made from working part-time jobs to an NGO in India to construct a new school building for the Niranjana Public Welfare School in Bihar, near Bodhgaya. The school itself was established in response to the poor education system in the region.

The initiative, supported by continued donations, grew as it gained the support of teachers, staff and the local community. The article in The Better India states, “Realizing how important it is to provide ongoing support, the school administration came up with the idea of conducting an art festival that would help convey the problems faced by villagers and children in Bihar, other than popularizing art among the students.”

“One of the artists who participated in the festival three years in row was Yusuke Asai. Inspired by traditional Indian wall paintings, Asai filled the walls and ceiling of a classroom with paintings made using mud. Working with children, he collected soil from various sites in the village and mixed them with water to make pigments. Asai also encouraged the children to make hand-prints on the wall as a sign of their hopes for the future.”

The art, speaks for itself (all images sourced and credited to The Better India).