How an art teacher took a summer art camp to the tribal children of Malakkappara in Kerala

The Hindu

23-05-2025

At a tribal settlement in Perumpara Colony in Malakkappara, a hilly region on the Kerala-Tamil border, a few children sit down to paint. They have just got a fresh stash of art materials — paints including acrylic, watercolour, oil, charcoal, crayons — paper and brushes. They are at an art camp, organised by Priya Shibu, an art teacher from Thrissur.
It is not often that tribal children have access to a mainstream summer camps; their vacations are often spent working. Many of them, who belong to the Kadar tribe, accompany their parents who enter the deep forests in search of honey, or they work in the tea plantations. 'The children don't have the luxury to enjoy their summer vacations,' says Priya, who felt she could organise an art camp for them which would let them play freely with paint and create something out of their own imagination.
Priya, who was teaching at the Government Model Residential School for boys at Wadakkanchery, had a few students from Malakkappara with whom she developed a deep bond. She encouraged these children to explore their inner feelings and express it through art. 'Most of these children are incredibly talented. Their art has an honesty that is rare,' she adds.
Even after she left the school to join P Bhaskaran Memorial Higher Secondary School in Kodungallur, Priya kept in touch with her former students. She procured permission from the Scheduled Tribes Development Department to conduct the camp in April and she went with a small team of seven people — her husband, two daughters, a relative, a friend and a student.
The two-day camp, says Priya, was an unforgettable experience. While her former students were overjoyed to work with her, they ensured they brought along their friends to the camp. 'We even had a child as young as four years,' she adds. The children would often bring their pet dogs and goats too, who would faithfully hang around. In the evenings, their parents joined, too, regaling them with stories and experiences of life in the forest.
In addition to their individual canvases, the children, guided by Priya, painted the walls of an elderly woman's house, who was only too glad to be a part of the camp. The children painted what they wanted to, which mostly comprised the sights they are used to in the forest. Their temple festivals, the honey gatherers, the tea leaf pickers, the forest itself and the animals and birds, featured in the works. 'For instance, Bruno, Subramanyan and Tikku, their dogs were in the paintings they drew, so was the hornbill, which is commonly seen in these forests,' adds Priya.
In the two days they spent with the tribal community, they formed lasting friendships, says Priya. 'The villagers would bring us little gifts such as a string of jasmine flowers, or something to eat. One day, there was a power outage and we were surrounded by swarms of fireflies that seemed to have descended from the heavens; it is an experience I would always cherish,' says Priya. Twenty-six children attended the camp.
Priya has been working with tribal children to help them channel their energies through art. While teaching at MRS, she encouraged them to paint a library and the school walls. She even took the children to Kochi in 2023 to paint a mural at the Kashi Hallegua House at Jew Town. 'Art, with its therapeutic qualities, is a great way to help these children cope with their situation. It would help them keep off alcohol and drugs, common among tribal youth,' says Priya.
She runs a gallery, Pura, at her home at Mankuttipadam Village, in Kodali, near Chalakkudy town. The 30 paintings of the children would be framed and put up for a show at Pura. 'I asked the children to suggest a name for the camp and they wanted to call it 'Adavi'. The word means forest in their language.'