On the closing ceremony of the METIS Initiative on Plastics and Indo-Pacific Ocean 2021 at Utsha Foundation here, the grant-winning artist Manveer Singh shared his experience and also displayed a short film on his journey in Odisha in transforming his ideas to create beautiful art from plastics and also generating awareness among people and especially among the youth and students.
He created a wall of Olive Ridley turtles hanged from net and the artist has the concept to tell to the visitors, how human activities like fishing are killing the turtles. The tiny ones consuming plastics are also facing life threat near the coastline and especially adjacent locations near the mass nesting grounds.
The work explained all the challenges behind the lifecycle of the Olive Ridley turtles, which are in love with the Odishan coast.
The wonderful event on art and sustainability was attended by Consulate General of France Kolkata Talpain, Regional Director South Asia Agence Française de Développement (AFD) or French Development Agency Jacky Amprou, Director AFD India Bruno Bosle and Sector Portfolio Manager AFD Fanny Ragot and founder of Utsha Foundation and eminent artist Jagannath Panda, among others.
The METIS initiative is part of AFD celebrating its 80th Anniversary on December 2, this year and for this the agency has planned events across the Indo-Pacific Region including India, Mauritius and Indonesia. The AFD has decided to launch a global initiative METIS, to create a global public opinion on marine debris and pollution.
While this has encouraged participation of artists in India to express their ideas relating to plastic waste production, management and its ill effects on the fragile coastal ecosystem, in Mauritius and Indonesia music and comics respectively were used to create the public awareness.
Currently, AFD is also funding the CITIIS Programme in Bhubaneswar and 11 other cities of India through the Smart City Mission. AFD is funding CITIIS Programme here, supported by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, European Union and National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi and the Government of Odisha.
