Many migratory birds from far-off places are sighted in the Nalabana island of Chilika every winter. Visitors are allowed to visit these places as the island and several others don’t fall under the sanctuary area.
Despite security cover over migratory birds in the lake, poachers manage to kill rare species. They do it as demand for bird meat is high among the people as well as tourists. Ceramic artist Pinaki Ranjan Mohanty made a 40 feet long work underscoring the theme. He has observed that hunters are poaching birds not necessarily for meat all the time, but for fun’s sake as well.
Pinaki has a lot of stories to tell on Chilika. In his work ‘Ramp of Sacrifice,’ he explained the stories of flamingos. On a 40 feet ramp, Pinaki has placed thousands of small models of flamingos. The artists explored many social issues and the essence of life in their works in the group exhibition ‘Odyssey-II’, which was held at the Rashtriya lalit Kala Akademi here.
In total, 67 exhibits, paintings, graphics, ceramics, sculptures, installations and new media were on display in the exhibition. Among the many striking works displayed at the gallery of the Akademi, one stands in awe to look at the stunning Maa Kali by Arjun Singh. The sharp patterns in the acrylic painting provide a distinct feature to Arjun’s works. Four paintings of Arjun displayed in the gallery depicted the different Avataras of Maa Kali.
Using limited colours of ink i.e, red, green and blue, artist Anup Pandey tried to give desired effects to his paintings. Another artist Priyom Talukdar exhibited his woodcut prints. He used materials like dry leaf, thread, canvas, cloth and plywood to come up with his surface print works. The seven-day exhibition, inaugurated by Utkal University of Culture VC Dr Debendranath Jena, concluded on Sunday.