Where the Streets have No Name An Exhibition of Visual Arts Tel Aviv: 15-25 May, 10am-5pm @ Jaffa Museum of Antiquities Curated by: Dr. Alka Pande Free Entry
Foreword
For street children, a good night's sleep is a distant dream. Threatened by toughs, persecuted by the law, they take their rest as it comes - in little snatches, crouched under stairways, or perched on narrow parapets. Driven from their villages and homes by economic disaster, or parental abuse, these children are refugees in an urban environment they do not comprehend - perfect fodder for the underworld of drugs, sex and violence. Frail in body yet indomitable in spirit, they survive from day to day.

Twenty years ago, we discovered the world of street children — the harsh, raw, underbelly of the city. This is the world the children choose but so much is missing from their lives - food, security, health, love, education, a place to play and to dream.

Salaam Baalak Trust, set up in 1988, tries to fill this void through our eleven centres in New Delhi and Gurgaon. We try to create a sense of belonging and provide a secure space where it is possible to dream. Sometimes, we can make these dreams come true. Simple dreams - of warmth at night, of a hot, cooked meal; of someone to dress a wound and hold a hand when it hurts. And less simple ones - an education; a job; four walls to call your home; above all - a future.

Each year we provide services to over 3500 children. Initially each one is encouraged to return home to their families; for those who can't, we provide opportunities to help them realize their talent, be it on the sports field, a stage, on a movie screen or in a factory, restaurant or media establishment.

Whatever the Salaam Baalak Trust can do - it will be a poor fraction of what the children deserve. Please help us to do more and realize their rights.

Praveen Nair		Sanjoy Roy		Gagan Singh		Geetan Batra



Trustees, Salaam Baalak Trust







      

Curator’s Note
A street is a paved public throughway in a public environment. It can, however, become a source of great performance in an urban context. The Street in urban spaces reflects plurality and the fundamental underlying multiculturalism with every passerby on the ground, who may be from a different continent and brings with him/her an entirely individual culture. It therefore became a natural corollary to look towards the street for conceptualizing an exposition where collaborative work, with the children of the Salaam Balaak Trust and visual artists, would emerge.

India's streets are truly a melting pot of her culture. Indians take to streets on all important festive occasions, whether they are celebrating a wedding, a victory, or a religious event. For a large number of poor Indians, indeed, the streets are the stage where the drama of their entire life unfolds. In urban India as well, with more and more people spending more and more time out of home, the effectiveness of an outdoor campaign rises manifold. Coupled with innovations and keeping abreast of the latest technological advances, Street Culture will be at the forefront of innumerable social changes.

I invited artists to work in a collaborative manner with either a child or children from the Salaam Balaak Trust to create a set of twin art works, one by the artists themselves and the other worked upon as a collaboration between the artist and the street children.

The engagement between the artist and the children became a dynamic one. Both inspired and enabled each other to create a fresh language which is evidenced in the second completed painting. The primary work made by the artist and the second painting made by the artist and non artist developed a life and language of its own. Often the non artist led the work.

Where the streets have No Name was an exciting journey for all of us involved, from the artists, to the children and for me as the curator. The art works that have emerged reflect the energies of the people.

Dr. Alka Pande

Artist List



 



1.	Anjum Siddiqui				5.	Mandakini				9.	Roy Sinai



2.	Brinda Chudasama Miller		6.	Panchal Mansaram		10.	Swapna Tamhane



3.	Bulbul Sharma				7.	Rashmee



4.	Gabriella Montanari			8.	Remen Chopra