TMI Correspondent
Kolkata/Port Blair: Of
late, the art lovers of Kolkata and many from places in and around the city had
the opportunity of seeing a conglomeration of paintings and sculpture by a
group of promising artists under the aegis of an organisation appropriately
named 'Mangrove'. It was the Seventh Annual Painting - Sculpture Exhibition of
this unique organisation held for a week at the 'New South Gallery' of the
Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata.
Among the participants
in the said exhibition were altogether 19 painters, sculptors and cartoonists.
Mahananda Gomasta, a well-known artist, who carved out a niche for himself as a
sculptor of great repute in Andaman and elsewhere also, flew in to take part
with his pieces of sculptures in this event.
A host of art
luminaries including Renowned artist and former Principal of Indian Art
College, Kolkata Dr. Subimalendu Vikas Sinha, National Awardee poet Arun Kumar
Chakraborty, renowned history researcher Dr. Swapan Kumar Mandal and others are
said to have graced the inauguration of the event and applauded the efforts of
the artists and their exhibits.
On a visit to the
exhibition on the penultimate day before its closure, it was found that the
visitors to the gallery were mostly impressed by the displays. This was apparently owing to the theme of the
exhibition which focused mainly on the
survival of mangrove- be it in the Sunderbans, Andaman Islands or elsewhere in
our country in close relations with the plight of the people inhabitating
around these vast areas. Artists have expressed explicitly but subtlety such
precarious conditions of both mangrove and the people as also the empathy shown
to them by the government and others who matter. The natural environment of the
Sunderbans and the struggle for survival of the agrarian people reflect a
different culture. Efforts to revive the roots in natural and social shelters
are constantly active there. In this eternal flow of life, the aesthetic sense
and cultural sense of the people develop in their own way, which artists are
eager to express themselves.
In
fact, what really is the prime objective of these of Mangrove artists is their
uncompromising struggle to Protect the Biodiversity and Cultural Existence of the
Sundarbans and other such places. "Despite not reaching the light of
traditional art education, they will be able to bring out more talent standing
in the marginal islands of Sundarbans and the cultural identity of the
Sundarbans will become a story in different ways of life," said Arup
Mandal, one of the active members of the organization. "At the center of
the unique determination and feeling is the idea of the Mangrove Artists'
Organization to ensure protection of the Sundarbans and the preservation of the
world's nature and environment", Mandal told during a long chat with him
on occasion. Mangrove Artists' Organization is committed to open the doors of
the mainstream of art to the practice of marginal art consciousness and life
sense. Since its inception in 2015, 'Mangrove' has been giving the message of
preserving the natural resources of Sundarbans and supporting public life
through various art workshops, art reviews and art-sculpture exhibitions, Arup
concluded.
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