NOCSL hands over Dillai’s painting to IOC President Dr. Thomas Bach
The President of the National Olympic of Sri Lanka (NOCSL), Suresh Subramaniam and its General Secretary, Maxwell de Silva, met the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Chairman Dr. Thomas Bach during the 24th ANOC General Assembly in Doha, Qatar on Thursday.
There the Lankan duo handed over a painting done by Sri Lankan artist Ms. Dillai Joseph, depicting the environment sustainability done under the theme “Give the Reef Another Chance”. NOCSL initiated this environmental sustainability Programme in Polhena on June 25.
In that initiative, Joseph was also part of the programme and took a very serious responsibility of creating its information centre. Joseph designed all the visual materials and contents for the centre to educate the public on the importance of the coral reefs.
Artist Dillai Joseph said: "I, as an artist, have tried to capture the essence of this endeavour in my painting. It is no longer sufficient to ‘conserve’ coral reefs; rather it is to go one step further, where proactive human intervention is needed to restore the reefs. The painting depicts a human hand giving out colour blobs to bring back life to somewhat dead corals (Some parts of the coral is white)."
"I have tried to depict the bright colour scheme underwater and texturized the corals to give a better effect. I wish to gift this painting which is Acrylic on canvas (60cmx80cm) to the International Olympic Committee as a token to celebrate Olympic values and the remembrance of this work done in Sri Lanka with the NOC team to encourage how we can work together to bring back what was lost and it is not too late to keep trying.