Moran: Most of us think of a little stone or pebble as a dead object, but for Ankana Mahatta, it is a blank canvas waiting to be brought to life. After making it into the India Book of Records (IBR) in 2023 for her amazing talent for painting pictures on small stones, the 22-year-old Assamese girl won global acclaim.
At a time when there is a growing concern about the young generation becoming vulnerable to drugs and crimes, Ankana won accolades and gained the limelight with her creativity and hardship.
Ankana’s Rise To Fame
Ankana, a native of Koylagorah village of Bamunbari in Dibrugarh district, has managed to get her name included in the record books by painting pictures of famous personalities of Assam on small stones. She was recognised as an ‘IBR Achiever’ after creating a unique piece of art—painting portraits of four renowned personalities on a single river stone, employing acrylic colours.
Daughter of Pona Mahatta, a venture school teacher, and Meena Chutia Mahatta, an Anganwadi worker, Ankana says she enjoyed painting from an early age.
Ankana holds a bachelor's degree but remained more focused on painting pictures of famous personalities on stones. She has so far created masterpieces on stones with pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Srimanta Sankardev, Bhupen Hazarika, Lata Mangeshkar, Zubeen Garg, and many others
Ankana Keen To Continue Her Passion
Ankana gained popularity not just in India, but also internationally, as her work touched all strata and nations. “My favourite job is painting. I am trying to keep doing what I love doing,” she says.
“When I was very young, seeing a picture of a bird inspired me to learn painting, and later I enrolled in an art school to learn how to draw pictures. However, due to some financial constraints, I could not continue it. But I kept following my passion, and I have been trying to continue that at home since then,” she says.
Ankana expressed her desire to do something better in the future after being named in the India Book of Records. It seems that by bringing life to the small pebbles with her impressive talent and artwork, Ankana is justifying her name which also means ‘Drawing’ and also inspiring others to see the world from a different perspective.
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