On the roads of Mumbai, taxis are not a rarity. But one taxi is particularly special. This taxi is raising awareness about a huge health problem in India: avoidable blindness.
Working with the art collaborative Taxi Fabric, See Now has given a Mumbai taxi a funky makeover! We refitted the interior with vibrant new fabric with the aim of sparking conversations around avoidable blindness.
The designs were inspired by involving people with sight loss in the artistic process. The original drawings were done by blind children in a work shop. Each child was given a word, which they painted using the sensory experience of that object.
Mumbai artist Jezreel Shah Nathan adapted these drawings into beautiful characters and images. She took the splotches and drew over their representations of the work. When aligned into patterns, the designs came alive when printed onto fabric, decorating the taxi in a variety of colours.
Every pattern is a little bit different. The drawings range from animals to people, and even to Rangoli. Although, there is a running theme.
Jezreel wanted to symbolically show how many people are needlessly blind. Out of every 5 splotches of colour, 1 was left without an additional drawing over it. This is because 4 in every 5 people with sight loss can get their vision back.
4 in every 5 people could see the world better if they had access to the right eye care.
This taxi is going to raise awareness in Mumbai around this health issue. But you can share this video to let friends about this project across the world!
This article was reposted from the See Now Blog.
for Equity & Evidence