[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 7 Mar: The sculpture work of Dr Bahom Kaling Darang from Arunachal Pradesh will be exhibited at the prestigious annual exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors of UK, to be held in London, United Kingdom, from 17 to 30 March.
This is the 61st edition of the exhibition. Dr Darang’s work, ‘The Konyak’, will be displayed during the exhibition.
Hailing from Pasighat in the East Siang district, Dr Darang is a dental surgeon currently based in Guwahati, Assam. He will be travelling to London next week to attend the exhibition. Talking to this daily, he informed that artists have to go through two stages of the elimination process to get their works exhibited in the annual exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors of UK.
“It’s a two-stage elimination process where in the first round you send photographs and video of the work. From it, the jury selects and makes the list. The selected artists have to then send their work physically,” said Dr Darang.
Afterwards the final selected artists are invited to London for exhibition-cum-sale of the works. “It’s a very prestigious exhibition, and very few make it every year. I am fortunate in that regard. About 100 exhibits are there every year, and out of that, 2/3rd is open for competition by submissions worldwide,” he added.
Though a dental surgeon by profession, Dr Darang has had a keen interest in sculpture work from the beginning.
“Initially, I learnt by myself about sculpture. But I have learnt more from sculpture workshops with some of the best contemporary sculptors in Spain in 2022 and at The Florence Academy of Art, Italy in 2024,” said Dr Darang.
He added that he makes sculptures of various tribes of the Northeast, in particular Arunachal Pradesh, to showcase them to the rest of the world.
