[Assam] From Telegraph

[Malabika Brahma]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060316/asp/northeast/story_5969929.asp
   
            Reality bites in Bodo artist’s work
- After brush with death, Maneswar uses art as weapon against violence     MAITREYEE BORUAH                 Maneswar Brahma   Guwahati, March 15: It’s been over a decade since Maneswar Brahma took 14 bullets on his body after being caught in the crossfire during a clash between militants of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and the disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers. 
  The Bodo graphic artist not only lived to tell his tale, he also launch a crusade against the culture of violence that has claimed the lives of so many innocent people. 
  Brahma has now become the first from Assam to win the prestigious National Academy Award instituted by the Lalit Kala Academy. His award-winning work, titled Unfinished Story, depicts the rape of a woman and her daughter by army personnel in the premises of Bathou temple at Jharbari in mid-2004.
  “My works mostly depict the atrocities meted out to the common man by both the army and insurgent groups. The graphic art that fetched me the award is an attempt to highlight the horrors that come with insurgency,” Brahma, who did his masters in graphic art at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, said.
  Maharashtra governor S.M. Krishna will give away the award during the 48th National Exhibition of Art at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, on Tuesday.
  Recounting his personal nightmare on October 10, 1995, Brahma said: “It was a miracle that I survived. Even the doctors who looked after me at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital were taken aback by my spirit to fight against all odds.”
  Apart from suffering 14 injuries, mostly on his lower abdomen, one on his chin and two in his right hand, his right hand became inactive, forcing him to learn to work with only his left. The incident occurred when he was still a student at Santiniketan.
  “After recovering from my injuries, I went back to continue my studies. There, I used my art to talk about the dilemma of the common man, caught between the army and insurgents. My area of interest is human rights violation in the region,” Brahma, 39, said.
  In 2000, a work highlighting the Bodo-Adivasi ethnic riots of 1990 fetched Brahma the Birla Academy award instituted by the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta. 
  His depiction of the custody death of Thangjam Manorama of Manipur in 2004 won the first Northeast States Exhibition of Arts award that very year.
  Brahma has already exhibited his works in several major exhibitions, including the International Group Exhibition at Finland in 1998, the India-Japan Exchange Exhibition of Print in Japan the next year and then the International Group Exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts, Chandigarh.


		
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