The Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan Art Gallery in Thiruvananthapuram recently became the setting for an unusual visual experience. Portraits, landscapes, and modern artworks lined the walls as usual. Yellow, brown, red, white, and black hues floated through the gallery space, but none came from watercolours, oil paints, acrylics, colour pencils, or crayons.
Every shade sprang naturally from the earth, and between touch and time, the earth became an image.
For decades, artist Nemom Krishnan Nair has held that image together with patience and colourful sand he collected from different parts of the world in his hand.
Long before sand art gained recognition as a distinct art form, Krishnan Nair had already begun his journey. It all started in 1963, when he was a Class 9 student.
“I was a member of the Science Club. Towards the end of the year, teachers decided to organise a science exhibition by bringing together science clubs from the school. Various science exhibits were to be displayed, and my teacher asked me to contribute a few drawings, knowing that I could draw,” he recalls.
As instructed, he drew five images: the heart, brain, eye, ear, and kidney. “My house was close to the seashore, and I have always had a close connection with sand. So, I decided to try using sand itself on the top of it for variety, and as glue was not easily available then, I used tapioca paste. Then I displayed them at the school science exhibition. The teachers and my friends said it was something new and encouraged me to create more such works.”
After completing SSLC, Krishnan Nair studied painting. During a leisure trip to Kanyakumari at that time, he encountered coloured sand for the first time. He collected some, brought it home, and began creating his first coloured sand artworks afterwards.
In 1974, he became a school art teacher, but his passion for sand art continued independently, without any formal mentor in the medium. Over time, he became a prominent figure in the field.
“Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma Maharaja was one of the key patrons who commissioned my work, mainly to be gifted to VVIPs. Working with him was always a pleasure, as he clearly explained every detail he wanted in an artwork. Through him, my works reached many prominent personalities. Only six or seven of my works remain at the palace; the rest were presented as gifts after palace events.”
Among those who received his works were former president A P J Abdul Kalam, former prime minister V P Singh, Sonia Gandhi, a former Russian ambassador, and former chief minister K Karunakaran.
Sand paintings are created by pasting cloth onto a cardboard base, outlining the picture, and carefully sprinkling separately prepared sands fixed with adhesive. Krishnan Nair is particularly known for his three-dimensional works.
“The biggest speciality is that the colour of the sand never fades, no matter how much time passes,” he says, adding that the process demands immense patience.
“It begins with collecting sand from different places. The sand is repeatedly washed to remove dirt and dust. Seashore sand is soaked for about a week and washed several times daily to remove salt. It is then sun-dried on thick paper spread over a cement floor and later sieved and sorted by grain size and colour,” he explains.
He adds that sand from certain locations contains multiple colours. “For instance, sand from Kanyakumari has three colours — shiny brown, light yellow, and black. Each differs in weight and size, with black being the heaviest. And to get that requires separate processing.”
Today, Krishnan Nair has collected sand from nearly 19 countries and various regions across India. He carries small covers during his travels or requests friends from different parts of the world to bring sand for him. Each sample is stored in bottles labelled with the place of collection and the name of the person who brought it.
Asked about the detailed shades and patterns in his works, he credits his background in photography. “I started photography at 19 and worked part-time in a studio for nearly 38 years. That helped me understand light and shade better,” he says.
Over his career, he has held 18 solo exhibitions and participated in 21 group shows. The recent exhibition organised by Samam Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, was his return after a gap of eight years. Still actively teaching near his home in Nemom, he and his students plan to open a dedicated art teaching space in the city, with a special focus on sand art alongside other forms.
“He is a teacher who selflessly shares everything he knows with his students. With him guiding us from the front, we want to carry forward the tradition of sharing this skill,” says Mini Satheesh, artist and student of Krishnan Nair. “Also, we want to promote this art form and give it more visibility among people. We are exploring ways to popularise it and even develop it as a marketable gift art.”
For Krishnan Nair, this sharing and growth extend to his own practice as well. Even after decades, he continues to dream and experiment. “Once, during an exhibition, someone wrote in the visitor’s feedback book that while the works were good, I should try something modern. That made me really think. Now, I am trying to explore modern expressions in sand art,” he smiles.