CHENNAI : Shivaraju B S, or better known as Cop Shiva, a documentary photographer, walked into the 23rd Asian Art Prize ceremony, held in Hong Kong, wearing a bright red suit, paired with golden headgear and sunglasses. Needless to say, he got all the attention. Shiva won the public vote prize at the event for his submission from the series, No Longer in Memory, and took home $1,000.
Shiva explains that his look was inspired by his mother’s remark, ‘Go like a Maharaja and get the prize’. The series features him and his mother. “During my tenure as a policeman, I led a busy life and hardly could spend time with my mother. This was my way of having fun with her. I didn’t grow up playing with my siblings, rather my mother was my playmate,” he says.
The work has Shiva and his mother, who are seen wearing dramatic costumes with blingy accessories. “The idea is to show us doing performative work. I started this work during Covid. It is ongoing. I had only submitted one picture, apart from that I have not shown it anywhere else,” he says, adding that the look was inspired by his grandfather who did stage shows in his village.
Shiva was one the 178 artistes from Asia who got nominated. “They had shortlisted 30 artistes who had an exhibition in Hong Kong post which in the second round the jury selected three winners,” he says.
For the former cop, it was an honour to get nominated. “I got to know about this through a friend, a Kolkata-based art curator. She works with artists mostly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. She reached out to me suggesting I apply,” says Shiva.
One of the biggest reasons for the discontinuation of the series was the lack of funds but now the prize money is going to be a huge help.