Artist Wilson D’Souza finds the Yettinahole project for the diversion of the Nethravati as an instance of harassment of a woman. The government, he feels, is wasting Rs. 13,000 crore for an experiment that has not been a success in the country.
Mr. D’Souza’s work is one among the 10 paintings prepared on the Press Club premises as a part of the Press Day celebrations on Tuesday. They will be exhibited on the Press Club premises till July 7, when it will be available for sale.
Mr. D’Souza has portrayed a part of the river in the shape of a woman. A man is shown putting his leg over the river and dropping currency notes into it.
“The river symbolises a woman, who has been harassed. The man symbolises the political establishment that is hell bent on diverting the river, which has not been a success world over,” Mr. D’Souza said.
Artist and activist Dinesh Holla said it was an effort to generate awareness about the Netravathi and the impact of diversion. Each of the artists, who are known for their landscape paintings, had been asked to bring out paintings on different aspects of river diversion. The amount collected from the sale of paintings will be used for the protest against the project. Veteran artist Ganesh Somayaji’s painting shows how important Nethravati is for fishermen. Jeevan Salian showed how this project will lead to a clash between two districts by pointing out the Cauvery dispute.
Shabbir Ali’s painting portrays the origin of the Nethravati to the place where it joins the sea. Tyagaraj showed how diversion can be a cause for ecological imbalance that can lead to poor rainfall. Bhavani Shankar’s picture showed the nine streams that join the Nethravati.
There were paintings by Sharath Holla, Sapna Noronha, Santosh Andraje and Mohan Kumar too. Mr. Holla wants writers too come out with their works highlighting the issue.
“Not only artists, I want writers and poets to come forward with works on the Nethravati. We need to use different mediums and reach out to people about impact of diverting the river,” he said.
