Guwahati, May 24: When 16-year-old Guwahati student Abhinandan Goswami drew cranes at an art competition this year, he had no inkling that the painting would become the motif of an international campaign for conservation of the graceful winged species. The US-based International Crane Foundation (ICF) informed city-based non-governmental organisation Aaranyak recently that it would put Abhinandan’s painting on its range of promotional clothing, mainly T-shirts.
The ICF is spearheading a campaign to conserve cranes and their habitat, primarily wetlands and grasslands, across the world. Aaranyak is its co-ordinator for the Northeast.
Aaranyak secretary-general Bibhab Talukdar said Abhinandan’s painting had already been used by the US interior department on its invitation cards for an exhibition, For the Cranes, at Washington DC. The exhibition began on May 11 and will continue till August 6.
The art exhibition that propelled Abhinandan into the limelight was part of the ICF’s international art exchange programme. The contest was held at the Assam State Zoo in February. Nearly 300 paintings by the city’s schoolchildren were subsequently exhibited there. Of these, 25 are on display at the ongoing exhibition in Washington DC.
Though elated at his painting being chosen by the ICF as the best motif, Abhinandan said he had a long way to go and would work hard to enhance his skills. His father, Harish Chandra Goswami, wants him to study fine arts after completing his higher secondary education.
Ascent Academy Junior College, where Abhinandan studies, is planning a function to felicitate him. Amid the adulation, he said art had always been his calling. “I have been interested in this right from my childhood. In fact, it has taken precedence over studies,” the first-year higher secondary student of arts said.
Abhinandan honed his skills at an art school in Jatia, where he stays with his family.
The ICF-sponsored programme that became Abhinandan’s vehicle to fame was held for the first time in the country under the aegis of Indian Cranes and Wetlands Working Group. Guwahati is one of 17 places where it was organised.
The international art exchange programme, first held in 1996, offers a platform to understand cranes and the importance of a healthy ecosystem of. The presence of cranes is an indicator of the health of wetland and grassland ecosystems.
Assam is the hub of migratory black-necked cranes, which come to the chaporis (river isles) of the Brahmaputra from as far as Siberia. However, sarus cranes are rarely seen now. Birdwatchers attribute this to the degradation of wetlands.