Among the various big names at the recent Art Summit in the city, there was also a school called Bindu Art School, that works to support people affected by leprosy. While it’s easy to sit and talk about the issues that affect the needy at length, the initiator of the project, Werner Dornik tells us how it takes a lot to stand up and act.
When Werner Dornik first came to India in 1977, little did he know that the journey was meant for a bigger cause. “I was only 18 at that time and when I reached Varanasi, I got in touch with people affected by leprosy for the first time. They needed about eight euros for the treatment. I was carrying a good amount of money and after meeting them I wanted to give them all my money and go back to Austria. Continuing with my trip, I promised myself, ‘I will do the journey now, but I come back and will help this people all my life.’ So I came back in 1979 and did photographic portraits of Varanasi,” Werner recalls.
When Werner did his first exhibition in Austria, he used the profit to treat poor patients. “I sold many photographs and used the proceeds to launch my first book called Third class Life — Think on It, the profits of which went to help leprosy patients in Indore,” he tells us.
He visited India regularly after that and did an exhibition for leprosy affected people every year. He started sponsoring a leprosy colony in Khandwa-Aulia run by the sisters of the nun. And in 2000, when the Indian Government and the Japanese Nippon Foundation started giving the medicines for the treatment free for the cause, he decided to take a step further and venture into something that could help raise money and reduce the social stigma attached to the disease.
“I decided to come up with a painting school and suggested this idea to social activist Padma Venkataraman. I knew her because she had lived in Vienna, Austria for over 20 years, and we had worked on many projects for those affected by leprosy. She took care of 70 leprosy colonies in Tamil Nadu. She went ahead with the idea of a painting school for leprosy patients and people were thrilled about it,” he says. And that’s how the Bindu Art School came up.
“When they started painting, they didn’t know what to paint. We gave them colours and for the first four weeks they just painted with black and white. Then we added blue, yellow and red and taught them how to mix the new colours. I was away for some months and when I came back to the colony with Padma, both of us were glad to see the results. The paintings were just beautiful,” he says.
However, it wasn’t easy for Bindu to make them follow a routine. “Since these people were not used to a regular way of life, we decided to pay them a monthly stipend (the money they otherwise earned by begging). At the end of each year, they are paid 60 per cent of the profits that come from the sale of their paintings. We use 40 per cent to buy colours, cotton handmade papers, etc.” says Werner.
The project was sponsored by the Austrian and Indian (ICCR) Government and later private sponsors took over.