Naidu Elangoven was born on 22 August 1950 in Ammapalayam, a small town near Chennai, in India. While he was employed with the Indian Air Force, a diving accident caused an injury to the spine leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He was devastated and spent the next many years in rehabilitation. Naidu was confined to the wheelchair and needed help with all his daily chores. However, he was not the one to give up and slowly began to learn to use his mouth to write.
Soon, he was able to paint with his mouth and he decided to pursue his love for art by painting with his mouth. In the course of the next few years, he became an accomplished mouth painter. Naidu has been a member of the MFPA since 1984. During this time, he has done several solo and group exhibitions at the State and National level. His golden words to all the differently abled people are: “Be self-confident and self reliant. Do something to support yourselves.” Mr. Naidu passed away in April 2006.
