Colours can make a lasting impression, as can the lack of it. As a newborn, Rudritara Shroff was gifted a copy of Art for Baby by Candida Gertler. The 2009 book, co-curated by the British-German art collector and philanthropist, contained high contrast black-and-white images created by some of the world’s leading modern artists, such as Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Takashi Murakami and Bridget Riley.
Growing up in a family of art connoisseurs as she did — her mother Poonam Bhagat Shroff is an art patron and her grandmother Rajani Bhagat is a collector of black-and-white sketches — the now 16-year-old says her parents knew that showing high-contrast pictures could be stimulating for newborns. “It helps develop picture recognition and fosters a connection with the surrounding world,” says the teenager, who also remembers browsing her grandmother’s monochrome collection. “Medically, it strengthens eye muscles, enhances visual tracking skills, and plays a significant role in stimulating brain development.”
