Hyderabad: Spreading social message through art

Hyderabad: Painting and drawing to create awareness is going on since ages. Before, artists use to depict images on walls and palm leaves which would also have a social message in it. Creative artists will in any form use their creativity for creating awareness. Forty-eight-year old city artist Narahari Maheshwaram drew 119 paintings that portray the struggle of frontline warriors against Covid-19 and also have a social message for people.

"As we are stuck indoors, I thought to pay tribute to frontline warriors and give a social message to the public about the pandemic. People always pay attention to novel art pieces. So I decided to draw a series of paintings depicting our battle against coronavirus. It took me 58 days to draw 119 paintings," said Narahari Maheshwaram.

Majority of the paintings are dedicated to frontline warriors that include doctors, nurses, police officials and sanitation workers for saving the planet from the deadly virus. One of the paintings portrays a strict lockdown in the city whereas another depicts a locked Charminar with the next depicting the police officials guarding our city. To spread the social message among public almost all the images in his paintings shown are of personal hygiene that includes wearing masks, washing hands with sanitizers and staying indoors.

Describing his work, the city painter said, "In some paintings, I tried to feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao trying to protect citizens of the country from the deadly infection. The main motto of the painting was to tell citizens about the origin of the virus and the problems it has created across the world. My paintings depict the struggle that the frontline warriors are going through for the society day and night. Also, I've tried to depict the steps taken by the State and Central governments to contain the spread of virus. All the paintings are posted on Facebook to create awareness among common people.

Post lockdown, Narahari plans to hold an exhibition and showcase the paintings to create awareness among the people. For the past 25 years the artist has painted various portraits and is working as an art teacher at Sister Nivedita School in Hyderabad. He has painted many miniature portraits of famous personalities, iconic monuments, buildings, and sceneries on over 100 nails and was acknowledged by Indian Book of Record in the year 2019.