Mourning the theft of his creation

KOCHI: As the election campaign is progressing in full swing across the state, allegations regarding plagiarism and distortion of original works are also flying thick and fast. Sunil Linus De, a Kochi-based artist, shares a similar story. Without his knowledge or permission, many politicians have used ‘Nadan Kavala’, one of his paintings, in their posters. What is worse is the way campaigners have defaced the work of art as per their whims and fancies.

The painting, born after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, reminisces the nostalgia around life after an election in a village. The image was showcased at his painting exhibition held at Kottayam in 2015 and a USA-based Malayali family had bought it at the event. “The painting became viral after I posted it on my Facebook page. During that time, the image was circulated as book covers for poems and stories. Later, it started surfacing in many places — like a book published in Sri Lanka. With this election, it has hit rock bottom,” he said. 

The 52-year-old artist was deeply disturbed seeing his art being defiled for personal gains. As ‘Nadan Kavala’ infuses a local flavour in its presentation, the campaigners take advantage of its ambience. “Many of them even erased my signature. Instead of the love towards the image, these politicians are using it as a background for propagating their agenda,” he said.    

Even outside the state, the image has found users. “Bloggers, village clubs, and advertising firms have used the image in their works. I even filed a case against a Kerala restaurant demanding compensation,” said Sunil who hails from Kottayam. The artist who has been in the advertising and branding field for the past 25 years points out that people need to abide by the Copyright Act while using someone’s work. “Even if I go for legal action, the primary action will be against the designer and the press owner. The candidate who prompted them will also be grilled.

But I know that they have done it out of ignorance,” he said.Sunil completed master’s in Applied Arts and has won Lalithakala Akademi award and led a watercolour workshop in the 2018 edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. His paintings were exhibited in the International watercolour biennale at New Delhi.