Sudarsan Pattnaik’s sand sculpture on global warming wins Berlin contest

BHUBANESWAR - 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 in Berlin, the artist said Sunday.

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, told IANS over the phone from Berlin.

“Artists from 10 countries participated in this competition,” Pattnaik, the first Indian to win the contest, 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.