Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 17, 2019: The Sri Lanka National Olympic Committee will gift a painting on environmental sustainability to Thomas Bach, President of the international Olympic Committee, during the ongoing Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Doha, Qatar.
The painting by Ms. Dillai Joseph was on the theme of saving coral reef and was handed over to Sri Lanka NOC Secretary General Maxwell de Silva.
The Sri Lanka NOC has initiated an environmental sustainability programme with the focus on “Give the Reef Another Chance”. It was the theme of the NOC’s 2019 Olympic Day Run carried out in the southern coastal town of Matara.
In a letter to the IOC, Dillai Joseph said it was no longer sufficient to “conserve” coral reefs, but to go one step further and called for proactive human intervention to restore the reefs.
Her use of the human hand is a parallel to the famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. “We as humans have the ability to give life back to coral reefs not merely stop at conservation. I have tried to depict the brighter colour scheme underwater and texturized the corals to give a better effect.”
Joseph added: “I wish to gift this painting to the IOC 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 is lost. We need to do this for the generations to come so that they too will enjoy the planet and value it.”