Bhubaneswar: International sports events have helped the capital city get various themes painted on its walls through the Street Art and Mural Project (STAMP). This time, the famous mangrove forests of Bhitarkanika have started appearing on the walls of the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) with a beautiful depiction of its wildlife and environment.
Created by Rashmiranjan Jena and his co-artists, the stretch along IMMT after the Regional Museum of Natural History till the end of the IMMT compound, the Bhitarkanika theme has already started drawing people’s attention as crocodiles, birds, red crabs and Olive Ridley turtles have begun emerging from the line drawings and taking shapes of life forms.
When the entire globe is going to converge on the Kalinga Stadium Sports Complex for the Odisha Men’s World Cup Hockey-2018 and the city is gearing up to look like a blooming flower with the STAMP initiative, the best-kept secrets of the State are also getting reflected with the brush strokes of young and talented artists, here and there, along 10 major stretches. This work has been assigned to the respective artists by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
“I thought of creating Bhitarkanika ecosystem on the walls near IMMT as it is one of the most beautiful mangrove ecosystems of the world and also known for its Gharial crocodiles, bird species, sea turtles and the red crabs, found along the Odisha coast,’’ said Jena.
The artist, an alumnus of the oldest art institute of Odisha, Khallikote Art College, has nearly 20 artists in his team. The team comprises professional artists who have taken up projects on their own and also students including post-graduate students from leading art colleges of the state.
“We have infused almost all major elements of Bhitarkanika into the wall-painting starting from the eggs of the crocodiles, hatchings coming out of the eggs, birds of the mangrove paradise and also the famed red crab, which is well-known along the Odisha coast as well as the entire coast of Bay of Bengal. We have also visualised the inter-relationship of various wild animals and the beautiful bonding through our limited scope on the walls,’’ Jena said.
Pradipta Sahoo, an artist of the team working with Rashmiranjan, said, “a forest ecosystem is a beautiful way to represent the relationship of the plants, animals and the environment. We tried our best to recreate the Bhitarkanika story through our art.’’
Another painter Komal Patel said, “Odisha is a treasure of untapped tourism destinations and beautiful places among the natural forests and virgin beaches. We need to do such promotion more so that the international guests would find it more interesting and tend to visit the places. We can have more such paintings for other natural paradises like Similipal Biosphere Reserve.’’
Rashmiranjan is planning to have more wall paintings on the IMMT wall after finishing Bhitarkanika. “It is a huge wall and after finishing the concept on mangroves, we want to have paintings on animal instincts in which we are planning to have large animals like tiger, rhinoceros, wild birds and also something on man-animal conflicts,’’ he added.