NFT art workshops empowering HIV-positive youth led by a 16-year-old digital artist

“Art allowed me to form an identity of myself. It got me to think as to who else this could help and I thought of children from HIV-positive families who were yearning to break free from the stigma of being born into an environment where they struggled to form an identity,” Laya said.

Laya came into contact with an organisation which works with such children and held her first workshop this year. The workshop began with a curated Tamil playlist, featuring energetic kuthu songs and the timeless melodies of Ilaiyaraaja. Laya’s choice of music was deliberate, and designed to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. The beats encouraged the children to relax and let their creativity flow. “Music helps in breaking barriers,” Laya notes.

“I wanted them to feel at ease and enjoy the process of creating art. The workshop was for the children aged between 5-15 years and I asked them to doodle to the songs that were being played. They came up with an interesting set of doodles. I’m planning to make a collage out of it before minting it into NFTs,” Laya said.

Laya also conducted her second workshop within the same organisation. The artist worked with women falling in the age group of 15 to 19 years. This time, the brief was to draw what they loved or hated while encouraging their paintings to reflect who they were as people. “A lot of women took this opportunity to come out with their sexual identity and also spoke about liberation in their paintings,” she said.

Laya is also revolutionising the art scene. In Gujarat, she’s introducing young tribal designers to digital mediums. Her international curations include striking pieces in Belgium: one of which featured an elderly woman wearing an ice helmet, to highlight global warming by an artist with hearing impairment from Chennai and another that explored the intersection of the masculine- feminine.

(Edited by Srestha Choudhury)

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