Nirbhaya convict Vinay Sharma’s tryst with paintings

Thiruvananthapuram: Was Vinay Sharma, one of the four convicted in

Nirbhaya gangrape and murder

who were

hanged to death

on Friday, an artist? As per

Tihar Jail authorities

, Sharma wanted to donate his paintings, which he had drawn while in jail, suggesting that he was a painter, and many would have wondered how an artistic mind could commit such a horrendous crime.

His paintings, in fact, were a result of a painting camp organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, the National Academy of Art, in collaboration with Tihar Jail as part of the National Tihar Art Festival ‘Kalabhiyan’ from August 19 to 23 in 2017. The camp was intended as an art therapy for frustrated and depressed inmates of the prison.

Sharma did not have a history of any artistic indulgence, but took to painting to portray himself as a victim, a central character unjustifiably tormented by society, said noted artist

Murali Cheeroth

, who was among the 15 artists from various states who led the painting camp. “But, for sure, he wasn’t honest and it was evident in the conflicting tales he told different artists, including me. He didn’t have any commendable artistic skills, but his composition and choice of colours were not bad either,” recalled Cheeroth, a native of Thrissur and now based in Bangalore.

But that was two-and-a-half years ago. And Murali doesn’t know to what extent Sharma was able to excel in painting after he was introduced to art at the camp. “He produced around six works, mostly acrylic on canvas and the rest in oil, during the camp. The initial ones were all very negative, clearly suggesting how frustrated he was. The first work featured Hanuman, the epic character in Ramayana, trapped in an island, an army of monkeys chasing him away, carrying flags in which he wrote in Hindi all the nasty abuses the world outside was showering upon him,” Murali said.

Murali then asked him why he could not produce some pleasant or positive works as he could leave them for posterity. “I told him that his works, whether a painting or a book, would remain forever even after he is gone, which I think had some effect on him. The last couple of works he did were different,” he said.

A confusing character, with a complicated mental state and always craving for others’ sympathy, this man didn’t seem remorseful at all — for his horrific deeds — to the artists who had the freedom to interact with the inmates for a week.

“Sharma, unlike many others who were so frustrated for ending up in jail for a long term and who showed resistance towards the art camp or any art therapy initially, was seen as very active from the very beginning. A trainer at a gym earlier, he showed me how he filled empty water bottles with sand as improvised dumbbells,” Murali recalled.

According to jail authorities, Sharma’s final wish was to give his paintings to the jail superintendent and one work ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ to his family.


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