Google Outdone by Small Deaf Art Company in India

Google.org was not the first for-profit philanthropy. Five years ago, a young business school professor, Baba Prasad (Ph.D., The Wharton School) and S. Chandramouli (Mouli), an internationally-ranked Deaf badminton player founded VirtualO (www.virtualo.com), a for-profit philanthropic organization in Hyderabad, India. VirtualO’s mission is to foster and promote “differently-abled” artists who face tremendous handicaps in life and typically do not blossom into the artists they can be. In the five years since its founding, VirtualO has helped more than a dozen artists, some temporary, and some fulltime.

Chapel Hill, NC (PRWEB) October 15, 2006 -- Google recently announced the formation of a for-profit philanthropy. But Google.org was not the first with the concept. Five years ago, a young business school professor, Baba Prasad (Ph.D., The Wharton School) and S. Chandramouli (Mouli), an internationally-ranked Deaf badminton player founded VirtualO (www.virtualo.com), a for-profit philanthropic organization in Hyderabad, India. VirtualO’s mission is to foster and promote “differently-abled” artists who face tremendous handicaps in life and typically do not blossom into the artists they can be. Dr. Prasad, who lives in the USA, has invested his personal funds to start and run the organization, and now manages the marketing and fundraising. Mouli manages the operations of the organization in Hyderabad, India.

While analysts say that Google’s motivation to start a for-profit philanthropy is to avoid governmental oversight, VirtualO chose a for-profit status for more philosophical reasons. Dr. Prasad says, “The acceptance of a non-profit status immediately signals both to the outside world and within our own organization that somehow, because we are differently-talented, we cannot do without governmental support. On the other hand, a for-profit status boosts the confidence of our artists, so that when we succeed, we can truly say that we did so without government doles or external props.”

VirtualO has focused on recognizing Deaf artists in early stages and on helping them develop into full-fledged professional artists. In a unique arrangement, VirtualO provides these artists steady monthly salaries, art supplies, and studio space so that they can pursue their love for art without worrying about livelihood. VirtualO markets the art online in the form of original paintings and also as printed greeting cards, and profits are used to develop the firm and help other Deaf artists. In the five years since its founding, VirtualO has helped more than a dozen artists, some temporary, and some fulltime. When artists reach professional status, VirtualO markets their artworks. Currently, VirtualO is marketing the work of Khaled Mohammed, whose paintings were displayed in two very well-received exhibitions that VirtualO organized recently. The renowned art historian, Jagdish Mittal, inaugurated the first exhibition in Hyderabad, and His Excellency Shri T.N. Chaturvedi, The Governor of Karnataka, inaugurated the second one in Bangalore.

Khaled Mohammed has brilliantly revived a difficult 17th Century Deccani art form of marbling (this technique was also used 2000 years ago by Japanese artists who called it Suminagashi), which involves painting on water and transferring the art on to different media. While the ancient traditions used vegetable dyes, Khaled uses oils and acrylics which are more difficult to control. The random spread of paints on the water ensures that a painting can never be replicated.

The ebbs and flows of the paints and the patterns reflect the long meditation and close control of the artist. These visual patterns question any assumptions we make about the predominance of sound patterns in daily life. Familial scenes (mother and child, conversations, family scenes), natural landscapes, and rural life portraits display senses of belonging and alienation, or even ambiguity. These paintings, then, become bridges between hearing and non-hearing worlds for the Deaf artist.

While the art itself, depending on the artist’s self-expression, may or may not comment directly on deafness or Deaf culture, VirtualO sees its mission as simply to foster and promote artists who are socially- and economically-disadvantaged because of their deafness. Its vision is to grow into an organization that extends its support to differently-abled, non-Deaf artists all over the world.

Visit http://www.virtualO.com to view Khaled’s powerful and poignant artwork. The site also allows you to purchase original paintings and greeting card reproductions.

To set up interviews about VirtualO, or to request a media kit, contact Dr. Baba Prasad at 919-338-8164 or at bprasad @ virtualO.com.

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