Finding comfort in the rhythm of the sea, Nayananjani Monaravila brought fame and pride to the island while enjoying the ecstasy of being in the limelight in a digital art competition, organized by the United Nation’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) which was held in view of the World Ocean Day which fell on the 08th of June, 2022.
Nayananjani is a young Sri Lankan research assistant working for the National Ocean Affairs Community Secretariat in Sri Lanka.
This year’s topic of the art competition was ‘Deep Sea Exploration’ where giving a sense of encouragement for the explorations conducted in the deep sea is the central goal that was expected to highlight through the competition.
From among a large number of competitors representing their countries from across the world, Nayananjani’s digital art was placed at the second place while 29-year-old Jamaican Richard Nattoo and 20-year Brazilian Thammy Gularte Dias were placed at the first and the third places respectively. ISA is an autonomous international organization established under the 1982, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). ISA, headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica has got the mandate in order to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from numerous ways of harmful effects which may arise from deep seabed-related activities.
Two art competitions were organized in 2022 by the ISA to celebrate the explorations of marine science and deep seas. The winners of the competition, held under the theme of ‘Deep Sea Exploration’ were announced on World Ocean Day at an event in the Jamaican capital Kingston.
Nayananjani’s digital artwork, presented at the competition depicts how the seabed could be mapped with its exploration by means of the sound instruments and Sonar, a technique for detecting and determining the distance and direction of underwater objects by acoustic means. Her victorious piece of art further depicts the fact that deep-sea areas are able to facilitate the creation of excellent ecosystems while providing the sources for energy and minerals. Her picture is simply a source of inspiration for a resurgence of interest in the exploration of energy and mineral resources located in the seabed.
Nayananjani, expressing herself at the revealing of the winners of the ISA art competition for the World Ocean Day, 2022, remarked “Deep-sea can be described in an endless number of ways in terms of its beauty, amazing environment, and its endless usefulness to humankind. Let us admire the beauty of the Ocean. Harness its benefits while preserving them for the future generations”.
The skilled artist and research assistant in young Nayananjani invites the people to be in a long-term relationship with the Ocean that is engulfed with beautiful, infinite, and harsh mysteries.
“There are so many things still we don’t know about the deep sea. Scientists in the present-day armed with novel technologies are doing various deep sea research to preserve and explore the resources”, Nayananjani shared.
The Ocean by the simplest definition is the coldest and darkest place on earth that is full of marine life and much of which is yet to be explored. The deep-sea (areas covered with 200m depth of seawater) covers around 350 million km2 of the earth’s surface (50%) and represents 95% of the global biosphere in terms of inhabitable volume (Thristle, 2003; Smith et Al., 2009; Danovaro et al., 2014).
A creation of an art is also said to be the truth of an artist. But it could also be argued that it would be a mistake to ascribe creative power to an inborn talent. The artist in Nayananjani initiates her creations of artworks with a well-guided and preserved vision.
Her winning piece of art demonstrates her long patience, deliberate endurance, crystal originality, and an enormous will of intense observation. Nayananjani’s art suggests to her audience that the Oceans in the world have a profound effect in the life of humans. It is well known that oceans and seas have been changing lives, since the dawn of time. Humans have very often experienced an intense relationship with the ocean. One may not get astonished to hear that pouring feelings into the seas is an ancient practice.
Nayananjani Monaravila, representing Sri Lanka took part in the ISA’s international art competition which had received entries from people aged 16 and upwards from around the world for the submission of drawings, paintings, or digital designs. The students under the age of 16 who are registered in an elementary school in Jamaica were encouraged to apply for the local art competition of ISA that entertained the submission of paintings and drawings.