Apuraj Barooah holds up his certificate from Guinness and a scratch art piece in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, July 23: Apuraj Barooah picked up a few pieces of bromide paper out of sheer curiosity from a studio in 1993. Eighteen years later, he became a Guinness World Record holder for his scratch art on bromide paper.

The piece of art that won him laurels was 20.3m in length and 1.04m in width. It contains 40 pictures of world folk dances including India, the UK, the US, Spain, Italy, China, Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, France and Thailand.

He won the Guinness World Record for the longest scratch art piece on July 9 in London. “The criteria were examined in the presence of many people and then an official of the Guinness World Records declared the record as established,” said Barooah.

His dream, however, just does not end here. The artist, who left a secure job to pursue art, wants to portray songs of Dipali Borthakur through his art. “I want to portray five songs like Xunor kharu nalage mok, Senai moi jau of the noted singer,” said Barooah.

His earlier works include the portraits of Indian cricket players, noted personalities like Charlie Chaplin, William Shakespeare and others. “My art work has become very popular and I have even sold them for Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000,” he said.

“I am the first to make a record in the scratch art category. The art was done in 12 hours. I used the blade as a tool and scratched out the portraits on bromide paper,” said Barooah.

He scratched a portrait of Bishnu Prasad Rabha on a piece of bromide paper in a hall packed with people in the city yesterday. It took him around five minutes to put the finishing strokes.

Claiming his technique to be “unique”, Barooah said, “I am the discoverer of bromide scratch art and it has been praised by many as innovative.” However, scratching of art using bromide paper and tools like pins and blade has been there for ages.

“This is nothing new. Many artists in our country and abroad has been practising this form of art involving bromide paper for a long time,” said noted artist Noni Borpuzari.

A piece of scratch art on bromide paper done by Borpuzari was recently on display at Gauhati Artists’ Guild.

Agreeing with Borpuzari, the secretary of the artists’ guild, Kishor Das, said, “I have come across many artists who have worked on bromide paper. This requires more skill than creativity.”