ROURKELA: Twenty-six-year-old Bhagyasri Sahoo is on cloud nine. What started as an amateur passion for Pattachitra art has made her reach greater heights after PM Narendra Modi heaped praise on her during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme.
The MTech student of Sector-19 in the Steel City is on cloud nine ever since, as congratulations have kept pouring in from all around. “Bhagyasri Sahoo of Rourkela in Odisha is an engineering student who learnt the Pattachitra art form in the last few months and gained expertise in it. While going to college, she came across soft stones.
She devoted two hours every day to paint these stones on Pattachitra style and even gifted them to her friends. During lockdown, she started to paint on bottles too. She is now conducting workshops on the art form. A few days back, Bhagyasri paid a unique tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by painting him on a stone. My best wishes for her future endeavours,” the PM said in his address.
Recovering from the pleasant jolt, Bhagyasri said, “I never expected that my passion for this art form would take me so far. I am thankful to the PM for mentioning my name and highlighting our Odia culture.” Bhagyasri said, she was inclined to Pattachitra and Jagannath culture from childhood but hardly found time to pursue her passion till the lockdown from March last year which came as a blessing in disguise. She used to steal some time from her rigorous study routine to practice painting.
Her tryst with Pattachitra started amateurishly on soft stones. With encouragement from friends, she focused on Pattachitra and tried intricate designs during the lockdown. She has since been reaching out to a larger audience and art lovers through her Instagram handle @chinus_creation7557 and Facebook account. Her online workshops have helped in popularising one of the oldest art forms of Odisha.
She has sold about a dozen of bottles with Pattachitra art each for Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000. Her eight art works on stones sold for Rs 500-Rs 800. She uses primer on the surface of different objects, then paints with acrylic and finally applies varnish for glaze and lasting impact. Bhagyasri hopes to learn the skill of using natural colours in her painting from some traditional artists of Raghurajpur in Puri district.
“I am an artist by passion and engineer by profession. I am rooted in Odia culture. I also plan to start my own art studio to promote Pattachitra and other ancient art forms,” she said. Her father Kartik Sahoo, a constable in Chhend police station, said, “I was at Jatni with wife Basanti when I heard the news. My happiness knew no bounds after PM mentioned my daughter’s name.” On the day, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi spoke to Bhagyasri and congratulated her.