Few motorists driving by Akankha More spare a glance at the concrete pillars lying by the Major Arterial Road. These are waste material generated from the piling of the piers for the New Garia-Airport Metro track.
Hidden from the public eye behind yellow plastic sheets, on the island adjacent to the one with the Mangaldeep installation, 20 such pillars are being hewn into unique works of recycled art.
Rupchand Kundu puts finishing touches on one of the masked faces at Akankha More. Sudeshna Banerjee
The person whose brainchild the project is stays a stone’s throw away from the site, at Anahita Housing Complex. He, Rupchand Kundu, is also behind the planning and designing of the Seven Wonders at Eco Park. “I was looking for something to do once the lockdown brought life to a standstill. These pillars, made of costly concrete but of no further use, caught my eye. One day, I sent a mail to the chairman (of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation, Debashis Sen) seeking permission to create installations out of them. The response came within a few hours, greenlighting the project,” said Kundu.
Kundu’s installations are somewhat reminiscent of the carved stone human figures of Easter Island in being a similar collection of heads placed on pedestals. Incidentally, Kundu had replicated the figures, called the moai, as part of the Seven Wonders. But the biggest difference is in the masks that the faces at the Akankha crossing wear.
Concrete pillars lie by the wayside. Sudeshna Banerjee
“I want to give the message that wearing a mask is necessary till there is effective vaccination. These statues will serve to create that awareness. And years down the line, they will remain as a chronicle of the Covid era,” said Kundu, applying layers of cement on a concrete pillar to bring yet another face to form. The pillars range in height from six feet to seven feet and are not identical.
He has been at work on the project for close to five months. “In another 10 days, they should be ready. The island will have to be beautified with hedging, grass turf and lights,” he said.
Sen has named the collection Twenty Pillars in a video he has posted on the installation. “I chose 20 to connect to the year 2020,” Kundu explained.
