Extraordinary Mud Paintings Decorate An Entire Classroom To Bring Art Into Indian Village Children’s Lives

Japanese artist Yusuke Asai used 8 different types of local mud, dirt, and dust to cover all the walls and the ceiling of a classroom of a village school in east India. The overwhelming murals with beautifully organic and tribal-like patterns and images were part of the continuing collaboration between the Niranja School in Bahar and the Japanese students that helped found it. Art is one of the major areas of collaboration, so Japanese artists like Asai regularly visit the school and create in its public places.

Asai is well-known for using nontraditional and often temporal media like tape, leaves, dust, and mud to create his art. With the help of the kids at the school, this art piece was washed away from the walls after several months, returning the material back to the soil and allowing the murals to be replaced by other artworks in the near future. The artistic initiative is meant to raise awareness of how the children and other villagers of Bihar live and to bring art closer to this often culturally isolated community.

More info: Website (h/t: spoon-tamago)