SRINAGAR: A young Kashmiri artist has been selected among four participants of team India for the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championship 2017 to be held in United States. Pertinently four young artists from India including a Kashmir artist have been selected to represent team India first time in any International snow sculpture festival.
The championship is being organized by the International Snow Sculpture Organizing Committee (ISSCOC) form last 26 years in Breckenridge, Colorado, US. The four artists to represent team India are Zahoor Din Lone, Sunil Kushwaha, Ravi Prakash, Mridul Kumar Upadhyay.
Zahoor Din Lone hails from Singpora village of Pattan town in district Baramulla. Zahoor, has pursued Masters in Fine arts from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi after completing his Bachelors in Fine arts from University of Kashmir.
Zahoor is a team leader of first ever Team India for this Snow Sculpture Championship. Zahoor has earlier participated and gained experience of snow sculpture from ‘Snow Fiesta-2014’, organized by the Eplanner event management and J&K Tourism in Gulmarag.
He said that it was due to the ‘Snow Fiesta’ camp that he got an international opportunity and to an opportunity to lead team India at international platform in United States. “I submitted work samples of the sculpture camp in which i participated in 2014. That camp really helps me to grab this opportunity. In valley we have enough talent but lack of platforms”.
He adds that. “I am very thankful to Eplanner Event management who organized snow Fiesta -2104 and made that happen first time in Asia besides provides a platform to explore my talent.” Zahoor said unfortunately, due to lack of support from government and other bodies, the organizer could organize that program every year.
Worth to mention that each year, the ISSCOC receives hundreds of fantastic submissions to the event among just sixteen teams are chosen. Interestingly this year for the first time a team from India has been chosen from among these fine submissions for the world class snow event at Breckenridge in US.
Sunil Kushwaha, a young national sculpture artist whose sculptures are based on perfectly combined concepts of social issues, criticism and aestheticism. He belongs to a rural village of Singrauli, one of Madhya Pradesh’s Maoist-hit districts. He says, Art kept him engaged during unrest situations. In his works, repetition and rhythm implies dynamic, complex narratives, at times playful or urgent. His fine sculptures are ‘Stages of Desire (Medium: black stone-glass)’ and ‘Voyage’ (Medium:stone-metal sculpture).Sunil earned a Master’s of Fine Arts (Sculpture) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Ravi Prakash, a young national sculpture artist who describes his artwork as an expressive representation of his social experience. Ravi belongs to a very backward region of Bihar and he took art as the medium of social and economic development. The rawness can be seen in his work. He can work in many other materials but prefers to work in metal wire; an unconventional, flexible and long lasting material. Weaving and molding the wire to give a physical form shows his hard work. His fine sculptures include ‘Milkman’, ‘Mother Nature in Pain’ and ‘Soulmate’ (the other half). He is a double Gold Medalist, both in Bachelors of Fine Arts (Sculpture) from Allahabad University and Masters of Fine Arts (Sculpture) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Mridul Kumar Upadhyay, a design engineer, commonwealth correspondent and photographer. He has been very passionate about empowering youth through art and been advocating for young artists on national and international platforms. Mridul was conferred several international awards for his sustainable development work. He feels that art and snow-based tourism is a perfect way to channelize the local young people’s energies and give them the chance of proper employment in rural India and Kashmir valley. Mridul hopes this team will create entirely a new culture of youth engagement in snow art.
These artists said that India gets snow every year but they don’t find culture, recognition and appreciation for snow sculpting in India, unlike many countries of the world. They said they as a team, hope to create entirely a new culture of youth engagement in snow art.
However, in its 27th year, the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships will bring together 16 teams representing 12 countries from around the world to present intricate works of snow art. In the championship, Four-person teams will carve 20-ton, 12-foot-tall blocks of snow without the use of power tools, internal support structures, or colorants – just the ingenuity of the sculptors and a medium that lends itself, if only temporarily, to the persuasion of hand tools.
Snow artists from around the world will compete January 24-28, 2017 in Breckenridge at the International Snow Sculpture Championships. Sculptures, which remain on display through February 5, 2017, start as 12-foot-tall, 20+ ton blocks of snow. Teams from all over the world will compete and using only hand tools, artists achieve finished pieces across five days (65 hours) of sculpting in this one of a kind event.