GCDA plans international centre to preserve works of child prodigy Clint

If all goes well, the astonishing collection of more than 25,000 drawings by child prodigy Edmond Thomas Clint, who died when he was just six years old, will finally find a permanent home in a state-of-the-art international centre.

The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has come up with a project worth Rs 15 crore to set up the Clint International Children’s Center on its land in Kakkanad, based on the design of Kochi-based architect Jaigopal Govinda Rao. Complementing this initiative, a permanent gallery of selected works by Clint will be opened by GCDA in Kadavanthra on Thursday 12 March. Industries Minister P. Rajeeve will inaugurate the gallery where more than 100 selected works will be exhibited.

“The proposed center will preserve Clint’s work in a temperature-controlled environment. We are exploring funding avenues to realize the project,” GCDA sources said. Considering Clint’s early works are now 47 years old, this venture couldn’t have happened a day sooner. If he had lived, he would have turned 50 on May 19 this year.

Clint’s mother, Chinnamma Joseph, has zealously guarded her son’s creative treasure—consisting mostly of crayons, pencils, and sketches—since his death in 1983; His son turns to watercolor only a year before his death. “Hopefully, GCDA can establish the center. Then I can safely deliver the works that are in danger of being damaged every year,” he said.

The works traveled throughout Kerala for exhibitions until Clint’s father passed away in 2019. Today, the priceless collection is stacked inside almirahs at their home in Kaloor. Asked to choose her favorite, the 73-year-old mother said wistfully: “It’s impossible, every job is special for me.”

Curator Bony Thomas (journalist, cartoonist, and historian) spent more than a year with Ms. Joseph to select the works. “I shared with him the stories, contexts, and experiences behind each painting,” he recalled. These explanations will be accompanied by prints of the original works to be exhibited in the gallery.

Despite having undergone multiple surgeries recently, Ms Joseph insisted on leaving the hospital to attend the opening ceremony, an opportunity she would not miss for the world. When the ceremony is over, he will return to hospital care, carrying with him the quiet satisfaction of seeing his son’s genius honored again.