He scratched his way to Guinness book

Bijay Sankar Bora in conversation with Apuraj Barooah, an artist of different ilk, who has made a world record with his scratching 

It was sheer inquisitiveness that prompted Apuraj Barooah of Dibrugarh town in eastern Assam to pick up a piece of bromide paper lying on the floor in a photo studio about 18 years back. A man with creative instincts, Barooah tried his artistic talent on it in his ingenious way. That was the beginning of an innovative journey in the field of Art that has finally earned him a place among the Guinness World Records.

On July 9, 2011, the Guinness Authority recognised him as the World Record holder for the Longest Scratch Art measuring 20.30 m in length and 1.04 metre in width. On this canvass of bromide, he scratched with a shaving blade (his only tool for art) 40 pictures of folk dance forms of many parts of the world, including India, the UK, the US, Spain, Italy, China, Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, France and Thailand.

It was in 1993 when I went to collect my photo prints from a colour photo lab in Dibrugarh town of eastern Assam, where I saw black paper lying waste on the floor. The men in the lab explained that it was exposed bromide paper, which was used for printing colour photographs. I picked it up and took it home. The black glossy surface interested me so much that I tried to apply oil shades on it. It didn’t work. However, while erasing those oil shades, the scratches (colours on the paper) were identified. It was the beginning. The pin was my tool till 1998 when I took to using the shaving blade for better effect.

I didn’t undergo any formal training in any form of art and painting techniques. But I read a lot about art and paintings. For me, one has to learn the basics but it is practice only that gives proper shapes and quality to an artist’s works.

My first Bromide Scratch Art Exhibition was held on 2003 in Earthsong Art Gallery in Guwahati. Unlike other forms of art, one can’t use a pencil for initial drawing or can’t even sketch the outline in case of scratch art. Every scratch made by the blade is the first and the final stroke on the bromide paper. A small mistake may destroy a well-scratched art work. There is no room for error at all.

I am earning only from my scratch art works, at present. Earlier, I was working in the Panchayat and Rural Development Department in Assam Government. I left my job in 1998 to devote more time to my art works. Most of my art pieces are sold in the price range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000.

In 2009, it was in Guwahati where I scratched an art piece of 120 metres. That piece of art catapulted my name into the Limca Book of Records, 2010. I was inspired to vie for a place Guinness Book of World Records with the same piece of art. The Guinness accepted my proposal but it took several months to confirm for there was no category initially for this form of art. Though I went to London with that piece of scratch painting, I even proposed them to draw another piece — 100 portraits on a 200 metre long bromide paper with 20 inches of width. However, my proposal was rejected in the eleventh hour because the acceptable size of such a painting should be minimum of 20m x 1m. I continuously worked for 60 hours for drawing those portraits but as soon as I came to know about the size criteria, I left the portraits aside and then within last 12 hours, I finished a scratch art piece measuring 20.3 m x 1. 04 m. Subsequently, on July 9 this year, the Guinness authority recognised me as the World Record holder for Longest Scratch Art.

Skill and creativity are inter-related. Creativity cannot be recognised without adequate skill to execute the creative concept. Creativity means conceptualising creative ideas and the skill is the capacity to translate that idea into a reality. An art form is nothing but fusion of creativity and skill and the scratch art is no exception.

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