Photos: Tihar Jail’s inmates find solace at art school

With paintings and scultpures done in different mediums dealing with a myriad of issues and themes, Tihar Jail's School of Art gives inmates and undertrials an opportunity to address issues of confinement and lends them a sense of self-worth.

Updated on: Sep 18, 2017 2:00 PM IST

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Artwork by inmates adorns the walls of the Tihar Jail’s School of Art and other spaces in the jail complex. The school itself is quite plush— it has classrooms with projectors, workshop rooms, a sculpture studio, a gallery with track lighting, a foyer and a lawn in the front. Young men facing charges from murder to attempt to murder to dacoity sit on the floor, poring intensely over canvases and sheets of paper in attempts to come to terms with confinement. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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Most of the 2,800 prisoners in jail number 4 are undertrials with varied backgrounds and 100 of them attend the art school, spending six to eight hours every day. Many pieces of art by the inmates stand out for technique, composition and originality, with a lot of them depicting how a sudden turn of events can flip lives upside down and what it means to be a victim of circumstances. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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Ramesh, an inmate poses for a photo in front of his art work on display at a gallery at the Tihar School Of Art in New Delhi. The paintings are in different mediums—oil, acrylic, water paint—dealing with myriad themes of streetscapes, metro trains, portraits of women, the ghats of Banaras among many others. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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The idea behind the art school, says Rajesh Chauhan, superintendent of jail number 4 is to help inmates use their time constructively. ‘Those who have joined art school are no more angry, no longer pick fights. Painting has a cathartic effect on them’, he said. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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Over the past few months, Tihar’s inmates have been trained first by a group of postgraduate students of the College of Art, Delhi and then by well-known artists associated with the Lalit Kala Akademi during a five-day workshop. The Akademi also donated to the school of Art digital reproductions of works by famous artists such as F.N. Souza, apart from reference books and films made on eminent artists to inspire the inmates. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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Their current teacher, Sushma Yadav, an artist, says that the biggest challenge of teaching art to inmates is to get them interested in it. ‘Some of them are very talented, disciplined and fast learners. Art gives them a sense of self-worth. The artworks the inmates have created also show their humane and creative side,’ Yadav said. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

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Most of the inmates had never held a brush before coming to jail, and now they wish to take up art as a career. Ramesh Kumar, 23, facing murder charges, says he wants to earn his living as an artist. Proudly showing a painting of a ghat in Varanasi, he frankly admits it is part copy of a work he saw in a newspaper. ‘Art has helped me forget memories that otherwise made me miserable every moment,’ said Ramesh. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)