A 28

Renowned artist Udayakumar TR was the team leader who conceptualized the relief sculpture project at the CMS College. The work was on and the artists were doing their works with great enthusiasm. A strong sense of community was developing between artists, local people, college staff, students and above all the principal of the college, Mr. Varghese Joshua. A pall of gloom fell over the artists and the community once they heard the news of Russian invasion in Ukraine. Suddenly, the world was pushed to the verge of an impending large-scale war.

Udayakumar took up the materials then and there, went on to do a relief panel though he was not planning to do a work himself other than being the curator of the project. The work shows a menacing tank pushing its way forward to a space a lit lantern is kept. The muzzle of the gun is aimed at a pair of scared doves that try to fly away from its path. Behind the armored vehicle one could see a broken city, building ruined and scarred in heavy bombing. On the upper right side of the panel, in Malayalam it is written: ‘Freedom via Truth, Peace via Freedom’. The relief is rich in pure and simple symbolism. The armored tank is on its way to destroy the peace as it has already done to the building. The lit lamp suggests the hope of the world, which would be extinguished by a brutal war.