Two fierce-looking lions, one made of fibre glass and another of cement, a metre and a half high, are seated with an electric saw in between. A recording of forest sounds, “the flowing river, the twittering birds” plays continuously on loop in the background. This public installation will be unveiled on March 12 at Pathalam Junction, near High Court in Eloor. Made by artists Manu Osho and self-taught artist Joseph Sherin, who was former councillor of Eloor, the installation seeks to create an awareness against deforestation.
Manu did his MFA from RLV College in Tripunithura and is a poet. He says, “I have been drawn to Nature since childhood. Eloor is a rural area but industrialisation is destroying the natural surroundings. Human beings have been destroying forests and with it, the habitat of birds and animals.” Sherin isalso from the area. It took them a month to cast the fibre sculpture and a week to make the concrete lion.
The installation will be inaugurated by Industry and Law Minister, P Rajeev.
