New Delhi: Showcasing the unfortunate plight of life on Earth due to air pollution, the Padmashree Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture on Puri beach in Odisha to mark World Environment Day. The sand art portrays two human faces – one face that has been covered with black sand, depicting the life of a human being who is just inhaling polluted air with no trees in the surroundings, and, second face that shows life with fresh air, thanks to the more and more trees that have been planted on the planet.
Speaking to NDTV about the art and his message, Sudarsan Pattnaik said,
The motto is simple – through this piece of art, I want to educate more and more people to come forward and plant trees. They need to understand how serious the problem of air pollution is in our environment and how it is impacting each one of us. Plant trees and live healthy!
Also Read: This World Environment Day Take The Mask Challenge And Help #BeatAirPollution
Mr Pattnaik also shared the World Environment Day message on his social media and added,
#AirPollution harms our health and Earth. Plant trees and help #BeatAirPollution.
Also Read: On World Environment Day, President Kovind, PM Modi Urge People To Make This Planet Clean And Green
In Pictures: Sudarsan Pattnaik’s Sand Art
My SandArt on #WorldEnvironmentDay at Puri beach in #Odisha . #AirPollution harms our health and Earth . Plant trees and #BeatAirPollution pic.twitter.com/z6z8SBeecP
— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 5, 2019
#AirPollution harms our health and Earth . Plant trees and #BeatAirPollution .My SandArt on #WorldEnvironmentDay at Puri beach in #Odisha . pic.twitter.com/qKyH60Hta9
— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 5, 2019
It took Sudarsan Pattnaik five hours and four tonnes of sand to create this masterpiece, he signs off by adding,
I believe in the power of creativity, if even one person gets inspired by my sand art and does his bit towards the environment, it will mean a lot.
This is not the first time sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has spread awareness about environmental issues through his sand art. Last year, on World Environment Day, when India was the global host country, the artist created his biggest sand sculpture. He made a 50ft long and 30ft wide sand turtle, using 300 kilograms of plastic bottles to send out a strong message about why we need to beat plastic pollution, which was the theme at that time.
Mr Pattnaik is also well known for creating sand sculptures around the theme of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – from the importance of using toilets to the need to make India waste or garbage free, his sand art has covered all these issues.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
