An artwork on Chandrabhaga beach in Konark during International Sand Art Festival. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 5: Myriad works on sand, based on the theme of environment, heritage and culture, were presented at the second edition of the International Sand Art Festival that concluded in Konark on Wednesday. The event was hosted at the Chandrabhaga beach and was organised by Odisha tourism.

Ten sand sculptors — Benjamin Probanza from Mexico, Etual Ojeda from Spain, Jooheng Tan from Singapore, Katsuhiko Chaen from Japan, Benoit Dutherage from France, Elisabeth Kristensen from Norway, Ulrich from Germany, Damian Van Der Velden from Netherland, Brian Turnbough and Rusell Lee Croft from the USA — created huge sculptures to create awareness on issues related to the environment.

Kristensen created an interesting sculpture that illustrated an extremely fat man saying “give me more” to illustrate the evils of consumerism that in turn affect the environment.

“If all of us try to control our greed a little, we can make a great difference to the environment,” she said.

The sand of every beach is different and working on the Chandrabhaga sand was challenging said Brian and Russell. “But we simply loved the beach and enjoyed working here,” said Brian.

Apart from the exhibition of the sand sculptures of international artists, a national-level competition was on at the same venue wherein artists from Maharashtra and Odisha created sand art sculptures on different themes every day.

Tourists appreciated the theme of Odisha’s Buddhist heritage. The artists also created lofty sand sculptures displaying meditative moods of Buddha and the different monuments found in the state.

“Odisha is still not as known worldwide as it should be for being a prominent centre of Buddhist heritage. So, I tried to glorify the various sites of the state where Buddhism flourished,” said Ballav, a sand artist from Odisha.

Tourists from all over the country and outside thronged the beach to watch the artworks.

“I was here last year too and loved all the works. This year my entire family is here and everyone was stunned to see the brilliant sand art that the national and international artists have made,” said Vidushi Pathak from Ahmedabad.

Sand sculptor Sudarshan Patnaik was the brand ambassador for the event.