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The Hindu
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Stella Maris Fine Arts graduates of 1987 come together for reunion art show in Chennai
In a quiet corner of VA Gallery on Chamiers Road, a group of women lean over a desk, admiring paintings. The artist, Kannur-based Vidhya Chandran, appears a little overwhelmed by the attention. 'My main medium is fabric… these are just practice sketches,' she says, signing her name with her brush. At once, her batchmates erupt in encouragement, insisting the works deserve to be framed and treasured. It is this spirit of camaraderie and creative persistence that defines An Artful Reunion, a group show by the Fine Arts batch of 1987 from Stella Maris College. Nearly four decades after graduation, 18 of them have returned to the gallery space, not just with paintings, but with crochet, origami, photography, ceramics, and fabric art, showcasing how their practice has evolved with time. 'We have always kept in touch, thanks to WhatsApp. This show came together very organically. All of us are still doing some form of art even after all these years, and bringing it all together for a show was an obvious choice,' says Rangashree Srinivas, who curated the show with her two friends Mala Chinnappa, director of an advertising agency, and Varuna Arvind, founder of VA Gallery. The result is a showcase that feels less like a formal exhibition and more like a reunion in paint, fabric, and form. 'There is no overarching theme to the exhibition, because each of us have different strengths, and we wanted everyone to showcase what they do best,' adds Rangashree. On display are delicate origami sculptures, textured crochet pieces, collages, watercolours, ceramics, photographs, and paintings in a variety of styles. Some artists have stayed true to their chosen medium for decades, like award-winning origamist Kalyani Voleti and Philadelphia-based watercolourist Radhika Srinivas, while others continue to experiment across forms. The mix makes for a viewing experience that is eclectic yet deeply personal, with each work carrying the stamp of a life lived outside and alongside art. Margaret Thomas, the current Vice Principal of Stella Maris College, who works with pen on canvas, says, 'when we joined the course, it was because we were all interested in the arts. This has kept us together over the years.' Mala mirrors the sentiment, adding, 'we were all in this because we appreciated the arts. This wasn't just a degree we picked to keep us busy until something better came along.' Over the years, the group has not only kept in touch and encouraged each other, but also travelled together for art — visiting the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, holding retreats in Kodai and Coonoor, and showing up unfailingly for each other's showcases. When their former professor, art historian and curator Ashrafi Bhagat, dropped by the gallery, she was quick to encourage the initiative. For the Batch of '87, her presence was a reminder of where it all began, making this return to the gallery not just a reunion of friends, but a reaffirmation of the role art has continued to play in their lives. An Artful Reunion will be on view at VA Gallery, Chamiers Road, from August 16 to 23, 11am to 7pm.
The Age
09-08-2025
- General
- The Age
It's approaching midnight, and this 24-hour venue is full of unsupervised teens
'They want to study, but they don't want to do it alone. It's being alone together.' On a Saturday night, year 12 students cram into the small space, hunched over notes and laptops. On one table, a tower of energy drink cans acts as a makeshift partition, blocking one student from another. ChatGPT is open on many screens. Most of the students are local but some have travelled from 40 minutes away. Best friends Kate Naylor and Abi Travierso, from Stella Maris College in Manly, were worried they wouldn't find a spot, after hearing the library was more packed than usual. They found a vacant love seat. Desks are a prized commodity at Forestville. But it's worth being here, desk or no desk, they say. 'When you are stressed about studying, and then you come to the library and see everyone studying, you're, like, 'OK',' said Kate. Abi says the library is useful 'when you can't lock in at home'. 'You get distracted; you come here at whatever time and do what you need to do,' she said. Lila Lawrence, 17, is sitting with her girlfriends, rugged up in warm hoodies and Ugg boots. There's even a stuffed animal floating around. They could be at a sleepover, if it weren't for the hyper-focus on their work. While the HSC is 'really difficult', and everyone is in a 'heightened state of anxiety', here, everyone's in together, Lila says. She is proud of her peers. 'Being in this space and seeing everyone push through is really amazing,' she said. Consuela Zang is sitting in a quiet corner alone. She normally studies at the State Library or Chatswood but she has been coming to Forestville because she 'needed the extra hours'. 'I come here during hours when other libraries wouldn't be open. I like putting myself in a quiet spot. It's a good environment to concentrate,' she said. Mates Charles Fay, Jayden Kirby, Archie Powell and Oliver Sansom, from different schools, met through the library. 'Most people don't have a study space,' said Charles, from St Augustine's. Archie, a student at Oxford Falls Grammar, agreed. There's also the social aspect, said Jayden: 'You and your friends motivate each other. We lift each other up. Everyone is here for the same reason. We all want to do well at the end of the day in our HSC.' Loading While students may be nervous for their exams, UNSW professor of educational psychology Andrew Martin said libraries offered two of the secret ingredients for effective study: a space for socialisation and a space for isolation. 'The social aspect can make dull tasks a little more interesting,' said Martin. It could also be 'mutually supportive', he said. But he said there were also times when it was important to 'find that quiet spot to really put all your 100 per cent of your concentration and attention into it'. 'The balanced student makes the most of the social when that's what's needed and makes the most of that quiet time, almost solo quiet time when that's needed,' he said. But at the (actual) end of the day, it doesn't matter where you are: 'Some study is better than no study at all,' Martin said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
Álvaro Mangino, survivor of the plane crash that became known as ‘the Miracle of the Andes'
Álvaro Mangino, who has died on the eve of his 72nd birthday, was a survivor of what became known as both 'the tragedy of the Andes' and 'the miracle of the Andes', when a plane carrying members of a Uruguayan rugby team crashed in mountains near Argentina's border with Chile; for the next 72 days the survivors resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Álvaro Mangino Schmid was born on March 30 1953 in Montevideo; he was not a member of the Old Christians Club rugby union side, but he had friends who were and they asked him to go along on the trip. The club had been founded by Christian Brothers at Stella Maris College in the Uruguayan capital. On October 12 1972 the party departed on a Uruguayan Air Force flight from Carrasco Airport in Montevideo for Santiago in Chile, where they were due to play an English side, the Old Boys Club. They were in a Fairchild FH-227D, a reportedly underpowered aircraft known to pilots as the 'lead sled' for its sluggishness. There were 45 passengers and crew aboard – players, supporters, friends and family. The flight was forced to land in Mendoza in Argentina to wait out better weather conditions, then resumed the next day. The inexperienced co-pilot prepared to descend to what he thought was Pudahuel Airport in Santiago but failed to notice that he was out of position. The plane struck a mountain ridge, losing both wings and the tail cone; three of the five crew members and nine passengers died immediately, while Mangino suffered a broken leg. They had crashed into a cirque, or valley, of the Glaciar de las Lágrimas, or 'Glacier of Tears'. Over the next few days more people died from their injuries or from hypothermia, while search planes flew over without seeing them. On the 10th day they found a portable radio, which gave them the worst news possible: the search had been abandoned. To protect his leg – which Roberto Canessa, a medical student, did his best to treat – Mangino had to sleep in a makeshift hammock, which exposed him to the freezing temperatures. But it did mean that he avoided an avalanche that hit the fuselage, in which most of the party had been sheltering, killing eight. As well as the sub-zero conditions, food soon became a major problem. They had found eight chocolate bars, three small jars of jam, a tin of mussels, a tin of almonds, a few dates, a few sweets, dried plums and several bottles of wine, but despite rationing themselves their stash lasted only a week. One of the party made a single chocolate-covered peanut last three days. Nando Parrado, an agricultural student, recalled the desperate hunt for anything edible: 'Again and again we scoured the fuselage in search of crumbs and morsels. We tried to eat strips of leather torn from pieces of luggage, though we knew that the chemicals they'd been treated with would do us more harm than good. We ripped open seat cushions hoping to find straw, but found only inedible upholstery foam.' With the search called off, and with food rapidly running out, the survivors made a pact: when any of them died, the others were free to eat them. Roberto Canessa took charge of the operation, slicing into flesh with a shard of windshield glass and eating the first tiny morsel to encourage the others. They went on to drying out the meat in the sun to make it more palatable. Initially they could only stomach skin, muscle and fat, but as their ordeal went on they ate hearts, lungs, and brains. By mid-December there were only 16 of the party remaining, and Parrado, Canessa and Antonio 'Tintin' Vizintin set out to climb the mountains on the western rim of the cirque to find help, having fashioned a large sleeping bag from the fuselage insulation. Three days into their trek Vizintin returned to the crash site so that the other two would have enough to eat. Parrado and Canessa managed to hike down into Chile, and were rescued on December 21. The following day helicopters landed at the crash site and evacuated Mangino and the other 13 survivors. The aftermath proved to be another ordeal: there was an initial public backlash against the survivors' admission that they had resorted to cannibalism, though news of the pact they had made lessened the opprobrium. A Catholic priest heard their confessions and assured them that they would not be damned, and Pope Paul VI sent a telegram condoning their actions. Mangino lived a private life in the decades following the crash, though he did stay in touch with several fellow-survivors. He worked in the heating and air-conditioning industry and lived for some years in Brazil before returning to Montevideo. In Alive, the 1993 film adaptation of Piers Paul Read's 1974 book, he was portrayed by Nuno Antunes, while in JA Bayona's 2024 Netflix film Society of the Snow he was played by Juan Caruso; the film was Oscar-nominated in the Best International Feature category. Álvaro Mangino married Margarita Arocena, with whom he had been in a relationship before the crash; they had four children. Álvaro Mangino, born March 30 1953, died March 29 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
