Vritika, daughter of Purvi and Bhavin Mehta and granddaughter of Nitinbhai K Mehta and Jitubhai Bhansali has launched a unique campaign using her artistic skills to raise funds for protective face masks for frontline Covid-19 warriors in Mumbai.
 

She conceptualised a campaign “An artwork a day keeps the virus away”, doing easily recognisable digital sketches of a person without showing his/her face. She collects donations for every sketch she does towards the purchase of face shields.
 

In the few weeks since she launched the campaign, Vritika has already donated face shields worth Rs 50,000/- to the police force and won recognition from the Mumbai Police who tweeted to thank her for the way she is “using her time during lockdown to create artworks” so as to “raise funds and provide face shields”.
 

Vritika says that she began experimenting with digital art during the lockdown. “Usually the face is the part of the sketch which gives an identity to the person. So I tried creating sketches without a face but doing other details from a photo so perfectly that the person could still be easily identified.”
 

Friends and family liked the first few sketches she produced and encouraged her to do more. “I realised that I could use this to raise funds to provide protective gear to the frontline warriors. Thus my campaign, ‘An artwork a day, keeps the virus away’ was born.”
 

The young artist completed her ICSE from JB Petit High School and subsequently completed her IB from BD Somani International with Visual Arts at the higher level as part of the course. She has secured admission to Parsons School of Design, New York for Undergraduate Studies - Strategic Design and Management Programme.
 

This is not the first time Vritika has initiated and led a social campaign. In 2018, she had associated with the Youth wing of The Ekal Abhiyan (The Friends of Tribal Society) and during a visit to Wada village she conceptualised a campaign (Build a Bag) to help sell the cloth bags manufactured by the women of the village.
 

She procured the bags, got the NGO logo printed, designed a brochure and inserted one in each bag. Then, she spread the word by visiting the kirana stores and through WhatsApp and social media. She managed to sell 3,200 bags over 3 months at a 30% profit which was passed on to the Wada village women. She was also felicitated by the NGO for her contribution.
 

Vritika has requested others to donate generously and support her for this good cause. A contribution of Rs 1050 which can be made online at https://pages.razorpay.com/pl_ElqAIXs0DIEGyL/view helps fund 14 face shields.
 

Vritika can be contacted at vritikabmehta@gmail.com or Purvi Mehta - 9820754703