A man in black clothes, sitting on the lawns of the Museum with white ash on his face and feet turns out to be a sculpture -a policeman called A. Guruprasad placed it there.
“The concept of the single sculpture exhibition is not explored in Kerala. We are more familiar with installations," says Guruprasad explaining his sage-sitting next to a few leaves with drugs and alcohol.
“It is to imply how the life of Dravidians has slipped down after they began to use drugs and alcohol. What you see here is an 'Oorali', they were the priests of the Dravidians."
Ooralis, considered to be equivalent to God, were offered drugs and alcohol by unknown intruders to destroy them, and since the offerings to God cannot be thrown away, they had to keep taking it," Guruprasad explains in a caption next to his single installation.
Guruprasad, a graduate of the Fine Arts College in Thiruvananthapuram has won state awards from the Kerala Lalithakala Academy twice, in 2005 and 2008 for his sculptures. But since he cannot make a living out of art alone, he works as a policeman, he says, “So I have to end the exhibition and get back to my work!"
