Four-and-a-half decades after Kanayi Kunhiraman carved the imposing ‘Yakshi’ against the backdrop of the Western Ghats at the famous Malampuzha garden here, the sculptor is returning to the tourist spot to smarten up the 30-ft structure and to build a ‘fantasy world’ around it.
The huge art work was a sharp deviation from the existing models. It generated a lot of controversies as it was the first time that a nude female sculpture was erected outside temples.
Mythical images
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“Built in 1969, the Yakshi is badly in need of renovation and redecoration. I wish to begin the work by the first week of March. I would also undertake a project to create a Yakshi Park surrounding the sculpture. The park would be a mix of images, sculptures, and other art works depicting witches, ghosts, demons, and other forms of mythical and imaginative characters,’’ said Mr. Kunhiraman in an interaction with
“Now I am giving finishing touches to the Aksharamata sculpture at the 132-year-old Kottayam Public Library. This 60-ft-high work would be the tallest in the State and it will be opened to the public by the end of February. I will return to Malampuzha soon after that,” he said.
Reports denied
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Mr. Kunhiraman denied reports appeared in a section of the media that he was planning to erect another imposing statue just opposite the Yakshi as demanded by the Irrigation Department that owns the garden.
The artist said his proposed fantasy park project would not stir any controversy and that it would attract people across generations.
Debate on morality
“The situation in the late nineteen sixties was different. Society was not mature enough and so there was no dearth of controversies. By doing the Yakshi statue, I tried to provoke the public conscience and aesthetics. I had also tried to generate debates on the morality of artistic expressions,” he said. Many have condemned Yakshi as obscene.
“I have excelled in female forms right from the beginning because woman represented mother, nature, and power to me. I have created my sculptures by drawing copiously from heritage, myth, and folklore,” he said.