Every year, several trees or their branches fall due to heavy
winds at Cubbon Park and the horticultural department writes to the forest
department requesting for their disposal. The civic body BBMP's forest wing is
required to provide an estimate of the fallen wood's worth, based on which the
park authorities have to conduct the auction. But the forest officials used to
take about 11 months to provide an estimate due to "shortage of
staff".
Fresh thinking broke this pattern in the year 2015. In October the
park authorities put out an announcement in the news papers inviting artists to
create pieces of art out of the fallen wood and a two week wood carving
workshop was organised by Horticultural department in partnership with
Karnataka Shilpakala Academy. The Academy shortlisted 30 sculptures and helped
them in-tune the concepts to avoid repetitions. Besides silver oak, rain tree
and gulmohar wood was also sculptured. To ensure their longevity, chemicals
suggested by wood scientists were also applied. While the academy gave each
participant an honorarium, the horticultural department made arrangements for
their stay. At the end of two weeks workshop, 19 pieces of art were created out
of the fallen trees/branches which have been placed at different places in the
park.
The creations focus on several aspects— there is a cow and pig
sculpture that throws light on the religious food conflict, there are two
others one of which depicts the love between a mother and child while the other
emphasizes the concept of family; another sculpture related to folk art shows
woman as the goddess of wisdom and the rooted plough installation talks about
indigenous farming and the importance of farmers. One more interesting
sculpture is of two-headed animals, fish and a bear. These artifices besides
conveying the message have uplifted the aesthetic quotient of the green space.
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