This artist adds colour to lives of cancer patients

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A self-taught artist R. Beena was struggling to make ends meet when she met an ailing 12-year-old boy with his mother at a government hospital in 2000.

“My son was not well and when I went to the hospital, I saw this boy whom his mother said would not be alive even for a month. I wanted to do something for him though I didn’t even have money to buy food. I gave him a biscuit packet and the boy thanked me. From then on I decided I’ve to do something for underprivileged kids,” said Beena.

From a banner artist, Beena slowly started focussing on acrylic paintings.

“I used to visit different places in the city and work on banner paintings. But after digitalisation, I was not able to survive and I started concentrating on paintings. Though nobody taught me the basics, I developed interest on oil and acrylic paintings. In fact, my childhood dream was to conduct my own exhibition and the dream came true recently,” said the artist.

From donating clothes to organising blood donation camps, Beena did her bit of social service until she visited an NGO that takes care of children suffering from cancer.

“I was invited by the NGO as a judge to select the best paintings and I was shattered to see the kids suffering from cancer. Though my economic condition was poor, I started Raksha Art Foundation to help cancer patients through my paintings. As part of the foundation over 100 paintings were displayed at Lalit Kala Akademy recently,” informed Beena.

Though the painting exhibition was not a success, Beena says with confidence, “I expected sales would be good but to my surprise I was able to sell paintings only worth Rs 20,000. I cannot accommodate these paintings at my home. But I will not stop here I will sell all these paintings and the proceeds of sales will go towards the foundation that will help cancer victims,” she says.

Beena can be contacted on 9380779849.

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