An artist at work at the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi art camp in Bhubaneswar last year

Bhubaneswar, June 5: The Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi is set to host a three-day national art camp in Puri for Odia artists from all over the country from Saturday. The paintings will be based on the Jagannath culture.

Though Lord Jagannath may be pleased by this, not so for a number of young artists who got together to protest the apparent blind eye turned towards them during almost every camp organised by the Akademi, including this one that begins on Saturday.

The protesters questioned how the Akademi, which is a unit of the state culture department, repeats most of the artists at every event. They also raised questions on how some senior artists, who were also members of the selection camp, could include their names as participants for the event.

“It is good that veteran and senior artists are invited to a camp, along with the younger ones. But if one sees the list of selected painters, it becomes clear how the ratio of veterans to young artists is heavily lopsided. There are artists who are government employees, some who are seen in the Akademi’s camp regularly and some others who are members of the selection committee and yet have included their own names for the camp,” said Pinaki Mohanty, a young sculptor.

There were many other names in the list of artists that included members of the Akademi and selectors. But after the controversy sparked off with budding artists demanding an explanation, these names were withdrawn. But one can still find names such as that of veteran painter Baladev Moharatha, who is a member of the selection committee.

When asked why such artists were taking part despite this being against the rules, the members of the Akademi had nothing much to say.

“Please do not ask me for any explanation, because I really cannot name any reason. Since the Akademi had finalised the names, we did not change them in the final list,” was the reply from the Akademi president and well-known artist Siba Panigrahi.

Likewise, D. Bariha, secretary of the Akademi, said: “None of the members of the Akademi are participating in the camp now.”

This camp is not the only time the Akademi has been dragged into controversy. The selection of members for key positions without proper election, no art gallery for the state’s apex body of art, dearth of events throughout the year and that too with poor arrangements for the artists are few of the issues that have been haunting the Akademi time and again.

In 2012, when it had organised a national art camp at the governor’s house, many artists had protested the repeated choice of artists from previous camps and finally, a few changes were made overnight. Those artists have been repeated this time again.

“The Akademi officials had promised us that during the next major camp, young artists, who have never been given a chance, would be chosen. But they have forgotten all their promises,” said Helen Brahma, a promising young artist.