BAY ISLAND DRIFTWOOD MUSEUM

Friday Review, The Hindu, 15th Feb 2002

“Raji Punnoose’s works have a novelty about them. Here is a collection from the beaches of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where she has spent 25 years as a school teacher. During her strolls along the beaches, she used to come across wood pieces washed ashore.

Noticing there blurred shapes she chiselled them to perfection. She has never been trained in any form art and this adds charm to her endeavour. Raji says, she has spent long hours pruning and giving shape to driftwood. Apart from the tribal Jarawa woman, Handicapped Family, Monkey, Lion and Elephant, there are also pieces focusing on the Kargil War and Subash Chandra Bose’s Chalo Dilli Campaign. The Crocodile with all its ‘ferocity’ looks almost real…

The sea continues to fascinate her and she feels it as the greatest sculpture. However, it is in her hands that these dead pieces get a fresh lease of life”