Popular Indian sand artist and Padma Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik clinched People’s Choice Award at a prestigious sand sculpting festival in the U.S. He even took American crowd by surprise with his mind-boggling sculpture that highlighted a very serious message of fighting plastic pollution in oceans.
Sudarsan Pattnaik was among the 15 top sand artists selected from across the world to take part in the 2019 Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. He bagged the People’s Choice Award for his sand sculpture that conveys the message- ‘Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean’
“This is a very big award and honour for me in the US. This award is for India, which is also doing a great deal to beat plastic pollution and raise awareness on this very important matter,” Pattnaik told PTI over phone from Boston.
The award-winning sculpture depicted a turtle caught in a plastic bag and a fish with plastic trash like the slippers, bottles and glass inside its body. The tail of the fish is placed in the mouth of a human, showing how plastic pollution in the oceans is seriously impacting human beings also when they consume seafood.
“Thousands of people voting for my sculpture that highlights the problem of plastic pollution underscores that the public too is concerned about our oceans getting polluted and supports the urgent need to take action to save our oceans and planet,” said Pattnaik, who is known for the knack of conveying social messages and themes through his beautiful art.
He added that through his sculpture he wants to highlight that human activity is ruining the oceans, and humans are also getting adversely impacted by polluted waterways as they eat food from the sea and rivers.
Describing the award as very special, he said, “This award is not only for me but for the people. This is a public awareness sculpture. Those who have voted for my sculpture have voted for action on plastic pollution.”
Also, several Indians turned up at the festival with the Indian tricolour and extended their massive support for Pattnaik, who expressed gratitude to the Indian Consulate General in New York and its officials for their love and support.
Congratulating Pattnaik on the victory, India’s Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty said, “We are delighted that our very own Sudarsan has won the People’s Choice Award at this prestigious world event.”