Mysore/Mysuru: Chinnamada Shilpika Ponnappa, who has her roots in Kodagu, has bagged the ‘Special Mention — Best Ideation Award’ and a trophy for her painting with a theme ‘50 years of progressing UAE’ organised at Artoze Art Competition in Abu Dhabi as part of Celebrating 50 Glorious Years of UAE.

The competition was organised by Artoze Gallery, Magzoid Magazine in Ajman Free Zone, UAE. The competition was announced a couple of weeks ago at Ajman and all the artists had to first send in the image of the completed artwork by mid November. On Dec. 1, the original artwork had to be physically submitted.

All the paintings were kept in an exhibition in Marsa, Ajman, UAE from Dec. 2 to 6 and more than 60 artists had participated in the competition.

The exhibition received overwhelming response for over five days with viewers visiting the place to look at the hard work put in by artists from varied nationalities and culture and from different parts of the UAE.

The award ceremony was conducted on Dec. 7 and only nine Special Mention Awards were given, among which Shilpika won the Best Ideation Award.

The jury of three eminent artists awarded this particular award and applauded her for thinking out of the box, as well as being appreciated for being traditionally dressed and representing Kodava culture proudly.

Speaking to Star of Mysore from Abu Dhabi, Shilpika said that her painting hourglass represents time and sand which she depicted in the form of desert. “This sand, over the years, has turned into a kingdom with impressive, beautiful and artistic architectural concrete structures. Water being an important aspect of UAE, I have shown the hourglass sailing on it. The UAE flag in the background emphasises how vast and wide it has spread its wings,” she said.

Shilpika is an artist by passion and has been exploring the field since childhood and has created many artworks with acrylic on canvas. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and specialised in Applied Arts (advertising – copywriting and content writing) from Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru. She is the daughter of Chemira C. Ponnappa and Beena and is married to Chinnamada Santhosh Subbaiah, GIS Lead Analyst in Abu Dhabi Govt. and son of Chinnamada Poovaiah and Poovamma, residents of Ponnampet in Kodagu. Shilpika is the mother of 3-year-old Niviksh Nanayya and the family lives in Abu Dhabi.