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Monday 30 April 2012

Mural at Blind School - Biome


Mural at Blind School

Biome, along with artist Sanjay Singh have installed a mural at the Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind located in JP Nagar, Bangalore. This was an initiative of Kilikili, an NGO which works for disabled children. Biome and Kilikili have worked together previously to create play spaces for disabled kids.



Artist Sanjay Singh and the team, next to the completed mural

The mural was conceived as a combination of regular letters and the Braille alphabet. We also created motifs of flowers, fruits, birds etc.
Being visually impaired, the only way the children would relate to these structures was touch. Hence the main aim was to create a richly textured which would stimulate the childrens' imagination.





Tiles made through "sand casting"


We used a technique known as sand casting. In this, liquid cement is poured over a sand bed to form 9"x 9" cement tiles. The desired image is achieved either by scooping out portion of the sand bed or by placing a thermocole cutout above it. Among the available options we found sand casting to be the most appropriate, both in terms of cost and also durability of the finished product. Our hope is that masons and craftsmen who have worked on this, will look at sand casting as a viable option for future projects.





Pouring liquid cement over a sand bed


Completed tiles affixed on the wall


The colouring of the letters was also done taking special care of the childrens' needs. Most children at the school are only partially blind therefore we chose colour combinations which are scientifically proven to appeal to them.



Painting the tiles

Mr Sanjay Singh also created a set of turtles using scrap metal and other discarded items. Chitra Vishwanath designed a slide in the form of an elephant. Other artists also chimed in with various musical instruments and other auditory aids. These aids as well as a see saw swing were developed by a group at Auroville and a design student of Srishti Nachiappan respectively. There is also a wall which gives an idea about different shapes and acts as a sensory surface.



Auditory and sensory aids for the children




Elephant slide




Turtles made from scrap metal
A very special thanks to the following individuals:
- Ms Ramya for offering her house construction site to make the tiles
- Mr Ranganath (contractor with Biome) for offering his labourers as help on the project
- Mr Mali: For helping arrange the materials and logistics


Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind
C.A. 1-B, 3rd Cross, 3rd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore 560078
Ph: +91-80-2658 1076

Team members- Ankit Prajapati, Amit Tandon, Ashwathy Mohan, Pankaj Duberkar, Karan Singh, Rucha Kelkar and Stanislaus.

Text: Karan
Photos: Ankit

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