A butterfly, some landscapes and a bald man peeping out of a flower. Dhruva Dhar, a Class VIII student of The Akshar School, was excited to have eight of his artworks displayed at an exhibition.

Students and teachers of The Akshar School showcased their works in an inclusive art exhibition - Breaking Silence - at The Harrington Street Arts Centre. Curated by painter-sculptor Samir Roy, the exhibition opened on Monday and ended on Saturday.

The gallery was abuzz with activity and excited chatter on Day 1 as students of middle and high school took the guests around, explaining their works.

Anushka Lodha of Class XII was overwhelmed that her hobby of doodling with gel pens had found her a place among young artists. "I took to gel art last year. It started with me making sketches and doodles during free periods in school," she said, explaining a colourful sketch and a specimen of a zentangle.

For Dhruva, it was his second exhibition. "I dabble in mixed media, but soft pastels and water colours are my favourites," gushed the boy, whose personal favourite is a portrait of a bald man. "I tried to focus on both the dark and bright sides of a person."

Sharing space with the 60-odd paintings and sketches are photographs. A picture of a girl's feet sunk in shallow water amid colourful stones caught quite a few eyeballs. "That's actually the Ganga. We had gone on a school trip to Rishikesh where I captured my feet under the cool water," laughed Pratibha Singh, a Class XII student. Another click of hers shows a road in Dehradun. Pratibha contributed four sketches and paintings that were up for sale at the exhibition.

But the best part of the exhibition was the united effort of the students to create installation art. The result: two rooms packed with miniature recycled cards and half-made idols. "We were given tiny cards and asked to draw whatever we liked. We let our imagination go wild and filled up over 4,000 cards. These cards were part of an installation," said Sneha Krishna, a Class XII student.

The curator of the event explained how he worked with the students for four months to complete the installation art. "We collected the remains of used idols from all over the city and dressed them with paint, cloth and acrylic. The half-baked idols and the colourful cards made by the students led to a very creative installation project. It's recycled art at its best and the whole school chipped in to make it look so beautiful," said Roy.

The chief guests at the inauguration were Rupali Basu, the CEO and president (eastern region) of Apollo Hospitals and artists Pradeep Mishra and Shuvaprasanna.