Creations at the International Sand Art Festival on Chandrabhaga beach in Konark. Pictures by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 5: Messages to save the environment, give women their rights and protect heritage and tourism sites were written on sand in the form of artistic sculptures at the International Sand Art Festival that ended today.

The festival was organised by the state tourism department on the Chandrabhaga beach in Konark.

This was the third edition of the sand art festival and it showcased works of five international sand sculptors who exhibited a new work each day.

Francesca Cosmi from Italy, Lisa Donze from the US, Srimal Chandrasena from Sri Lanka, Craig Mutch from Canada and Johaness Gabriel Weckl from Australia took part in the event.

They displayed their perspectives of Odisha on sand. Tourists visited the festival in large numbers.

“It was a special experience to create sand sculptures in a place that has a centuries-old history of this art form. The sand was a little tough to work on but it was fun,” said Lisa Donze.

A national-level competition was also held for sand artists. Also, for the first time, women artists from the state took part in the event and hence a separate forum was offered to them.

“It was good to see women artists from our state display their talent here. We got to learn a lot from them and the international artists,” said Subala Maharana, a sand artist from Bhubaneswar.

The artists created a new art every day on themes that were given to them.

The visitors were amazed to see the variety of sand art at the festival.

“I loved all the sculptures. But there was one I especially loved. It was a work that showed a dead elephant. It was a touching creation and sent out the message of saving our forests,” said Manisha Rathi, a visitor from Jaipur.

Brand ambassador for the sand art festival Sudarshan Patnaik, an internationally known sand sculptor himself, was present throughout the event.

“It is a matter of pride for us to host such a grand sand art event. There are very few events in the world for sand art of this scale,” he said.

The five-day fest had begun on December 1.