Orissa-based sand artist wins Berlin contest

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Pattnaik created a crying trunk and three monkeys saying ‘You don’t listen, You don’t talk, You don’t see, Don’t put heads on sand, act now’.

Orissa-based renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik’s creation on global warming won the people’s choice award at the Eighth International Sand Sculpture Festival held in Berlin recently.

Pattnaik, who hails from state’s beach city of Puri, 56 km from here, has won the contest for the fifth time.

The theme of this year’s festival, running June 6-August 29, was ‘Head in Sand’. Pattnaik said he created a “crying” three trunk and three monkeys saying that climate change is an inconvenient truth.

The image bears the messages “You don’t listen”, “You don’t talk”, “You don’t see”, “Don’t put heads in the sand, act now”.

“The sculpture I created got maximum votes from the audience,” Pattnaik, who received the prize Saturday evening from Anja Smolle, the festival’s producer, said.

Pattnaik had earlier won the award in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2009. He has also figured in the Limca Book of Records in the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions for his work.

Sand artists from 10 countries like Denmark, Canada, USA, Netherlands, Ukren, Bulgaria etc participated in the competition themed ‘Heads in sand’.