Amrit Khurana autistic artist from Noida India expresses herself through her unique art

by Debra Hosseini

“I know many people will disagree with this, but both me and my husband feel that Amrit was given to us for a reason. … I’m not sure what the lesson is for Amrit, but for us it is love, love, LOVE.” Aarti Khurana

The Art of Autism is privileged to receive many emails from wonderful artists around the world. Recently, I was reading a blog about Amrit Khurana, an artist who creates beautiful colorful pieces in India. Serendipitiously, on the same day I first became acquainted with Amrit and her art, I received an email from a friend, “Check this beautiful art out,” and the link to Amrit’s blog.

Amrit’s blog is maintained by her mom Aarti. Aarti has a talent for expressing the joy that Amrit finds in creation of her art and the revelations that occur when raising a child with special needs.

At first Aarti and her husband had difficulty with the diagnosis. “It took us more than an year to come to terms with it but ever since we have not looked back.”

From Amrit’s blog, Aarti writes, “I know many people will disagree with this, but both me and my husband feel that Amrit was given to us for a reason. … I’m not sure what the lesson is for Amrit, but for us it is love, love, LOVE. Learning to love without limits, loving when we are tired, cranky, sad, at the end of our rope, when one feels that there is nothing left to love with—we must still go on loving. And this lesson we learnt by a chance encounter with Dr. Jyoti Sharma, a gyneacologist in Dehradun. She told us that we were the chosen one, one whom God has faith in that they will care for and look after this special child of his, this pure, simply wonderful creation. It touched our souls and that day we became different with our daughter’s difference.”

Amrit’s dad Jaspal says he often recites this poem to Amrit and all the special needs children in the world.

WALLS OF INDIFFERENCE

Your stairs and doors don’t let me in, they barricade my way
and yet I have a right to live, I have my role to play
I may rise, may fall, but why should your indifference keep me behind the wall

Amrit began painting when she was six. She uses no models for her drawings, but draws from images seen only once, on television or in a book.

Her mom Aarit says “She would catch a fleeting glimpse of a running horse and recreate it perfectly.”

Now at age 19, art is Amrit’s primary form of communication and social integration. She spends every day painting from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Her painting has matured from representational to abstract over the last few years. She is fond of using texture and vibrant hues.

In 2012, Amrit traveled all the way to the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature through the summer break to train at the gallery of renowned artist Arpana Caur.

Amrit recently had an exhibit of her art entitled “Views from Planet Autism 2013” in New Delhi.

To find out more about Amrit Khurana, visit her blog Step into my World at amritkhurana93.blogspot.in.

If you have a story about an artist you would like to share, please email thartofautism@gmail.com.