Rotary Club of Madras East was chartered in 1985 and is now the second-largest and premier club in Dist.3232. RCME has several projects worth many crores year on year, to its credit.
Art Houz is one of the leading contemporary art galleries from South-India. Founded in 2012 by Vincent Adaikalraj, the gallery has achieved significant importance, mounting some of the most important shows from the Indian art scene. Our focus is on young emerging artists with an experimental approach to practice and expand the horizons of Contemporary Indian art audiences.
With this auction – Eye for Art- dedicated to Dhristi, by RCME, we hope to support the visually impaired, through an exhibition of artworks. The collection that comprises of 70 paintings features various artists across India and is curated keeping in mind general audience appeal. Through this event Art Houz has a collective responsibility of both supporting a special cause and lending support to the artist fraternity.
The Chief Guest is renowned artist Ms.Parvathi Nayar.A Chennai-based contemporary visual artist, poet and writer Parvathi Nayar is known for her multidisciplinary art, centred on complex drawing practices, video, installations, text and photography.
Project Drishti Smart Vision Device for visually impaired
In association with Aravind Eye Care Systems
More than 9 million people in India are blind and an additional 64 million are partially blind. Poverty is often a determining and exacerbating factor in the prevalence of disabling conditions like visual impairment.
The Smart Vision Device is an assistive wearable device specifically designed for people with blindness and uncorrectable visually impairment. A brainchild of Mr.Ramu Muthangi – an IIT Kanpur Alumni and an Ex-Defence Officer, the main features on this device are:
⦁ Facial Recognition and people identification within 2 mtrs range, their approximate age,
⦁ It can also recognize the expressions on people’s faces when in conversation.
⦁ Can read (Digital text, printed text and handwritten script) and interpret in English and 73 regional languages
⦁ Identify things around the person
⦁ Warn of obstacles in front and around when in navigation mode
⦁ Can read road signs during navigation
Rotary Club of Madras East (RCME) initiated Project Drishti and in collaboration with the experts in the field of vision care Aravind Eye Care System to empower 300 visually challenged individuals by donating the Smart Vision Device to them. . After a 10-month long process of inputs and upgradations and the device was validated and recommended by the Vision Rehab Centre of Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai. Since then 98 devices have been donated over a period of 5 months and we celebrated the donation of the 100th device event.
This project has also received attention across Rotary in India and is being taken up for distribution to the visually challenged in their respective areas. Support of large corporates like Saint-Gobain India Pvt Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Customer Analytics.
The feedback from the 98 odd beneficiaries so far has been heart-warming to note and the impact humongous, to a community that has not been benefitted from technology at such a personal level before.
Contact for Donors and beneficiaries for this project at RCME
Rtn.Sujitha Arvind – [email protected]
Rtn. Srinivasa Rao [email protected]
