Artscrafts celebrates International Women’s Day

 Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

“While any day makes for a great opportunity to celebrate the women in our lives,” says Anil Kejriwal, Founder, Artscrafts, a platform to promote arts and culture, “International Women’s Day gives us one more reason to do exactly that.” To celebrate womanhood, Artscrafts held an event-cum-exhibition on March 2, in which 48 resident artists from the UAE sent their participating entries, with paintings themed on women.

The artists were from various countries such as India, Russia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines and Belarus, besides others. The jury hailed from India, Oman and the UAE, and through social media, an online appeal was made to viewers to vote for the best artworks.

“Approximately, 50,000 votes were received in three days of online voting from across the globe and based on a combination of juries’ votes and online voting, awards were announced,” says Kejriwal. “It was very tough time for the jury who was online and at the exhibition venue, to decide the best artworks. The global acceptance of arts and artists is phenomenal!” The organisers and jury worked on a consensus basis and the following results were declared: Winners were Tanvi Atul kumar Patel (first prize); Pari Sagar and Vasilisa Eliseeva (second) and Aparna Mohan and Lipika Das (third). The Popular Choice went to Annu Vikas Singh (highest vote); Soniya Mohammed Rafique (second highest vote) and Jisha Sameer (third highest vote).

The Next Gen Award was won by Tahleen Tarannum Mahek and the Certificate of Excellence was given to Kusum Dutta, Manjari Satsangi, Sumana Malakar, Mari Vinu, Anjini Laitu, Anastasia Volkova, Kingbrown, Rajul Shah, Clarisse Bautista and Iti Sethi.

The event was graced by art connoisseurs such as, Emirati artist Ahmed Al Awadhi (known as Rukni); Peter Gressman, Founder of artforumuae; Emirati businessman Ali Ahmed Saleh Shujaa Alafeefi; businessman Eissa Al Mazrouei; Managing Partner UHY James Mathew; renowned artist Atul Panase; social worker Girish Pant; Dr Raghvendra, who is an orthopedic surgeon in Lifecare Group Hospital; Bank of Baroda Abu Dhabi head Y K Gupta; writer and motivational speaker Purva Grover, and other personalities. They spent time with the artists, appreciating the artworks and distributed the awards and certificates to the participants. Artscrafts encouraged each artist to explain their work and interact with the invitees.

“International Women’s Day, which is a globally recognised day that honours women’s incredible achievements, raises awareness and encourages people to advocate gender equality,” says Kejriwal, who is a Chartered Accountant working in Abu Dhabi as a Director in Jindal Saw Group.  “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong! It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.  “Women are the real architects of society. To celebrate the contribution of women in our lives, Artscrafts organised the event, with women artists of the UAE.”

Among other things, Artscrafts used digital media judiciously and celebrated womanhood with invited artists and guests, to reinforce the idea of upliftment of women in society. “We at Artscrafts are committed to giving women proper respect through their artworks,” Kejriwal concluded. The event was sponsored by UHY James, audit and advisory firm, Dubai, and VPS health care group, Abu Dhabi. The Artscrafts story is less than a year old and has emerged as a trusted name in the arts field within a short period.  The journey began with one artist in June 2021 - the platform now links numerous artists from various backgrounds and locations.

During COVID-19 peak time in India in April 2021, a renowned Madhubani artist was in financial trouble, due to the closure of the school where she was working and no income from artworks. To promote her work and her fellow artists from the same village, Kejriwal began the artscrafts.co platform. It connected artists from remote areas internationally, showcasing their artworks for global sales.  Currently, www.artscrafts.co hosts artists from more than 15 countries. Many artists with determination are also part of the platform. Artscrafts has also organised events such as India@75; International Children’s Day; UAE@50 and Sankatmochan. Those supporting the cause include Anurag Chaturvedi, Hirdesh Gupta, Rohit Nanai, Nilesh Bagore, Girish Pant and Padmashri artist Tilak Gitai.