Lockdown: UN, WHO Praise Sudarsan Pattnaik’s Sand Art Appeal To Stay Home

Bhubaneswar: A sand art by acclaimed artist Sudarsan Pattnaik advising people to “stay home, stay safe” during the countrywide lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus, has won high praise from the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

Earlier, Pattnaik had tweeted an image of his sand art and wrote: “My humble appeal through my Sand Art stay at home stay safe and cooperate (with) Government during the lockdown period. Let’s lock ourselves to save our life and others.”

Praising the Odisha-born artist’s initiative, the UN retweeted the image with the message: “Amid the #COVID19 pandemic, people around the world are showing support & solidarity to help others. See some acts of kindness in this @Twitter moment.”

On his part, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also heaped praises on Pattnaik’s initiative. “Art is a powerful tool to send powerful messages to the world. Thank you @sudarsansand for being one of the most beautiful voices against #COVID19 since it started threatening people’s lives,” the WHO chief tweeted.