Brother and sister win top placings in international competitions during MCO period

PETALING JAYA: Having to stay home during a lockdown has turned out to be quite rewarding for siblings Kanniesh Theeran Kannigeswaran and Kanniesh Shaindavy Kannigeswaran.

Rather than while away the time doing nothing, they took up painting to create award-winning pieces.

Ten-year-old Theeran and his sister Shaindavy, nine, came out tops in an international art competition recently. Their art pieces took first place in two categories in the
State-Fish Art Contest organised by a conservation education portal for children and adults based in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, United States.

In the 2020 edition of the contest, Theeran bagged first place while Shaindavy’s work was selected for the 2020 International Virtual Exhibition organised by the Lucia Bocchino Fund for Promising Young Artists.

Their mother, Kangathevi Ponnudorai, 38, who is a lecturer at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, said she enrolled both of them in art classes after they showed an interest at the age of five and six.

Theeran’s win in the 2020 contest inspired them to pursue their interest in art further.

They took part in the 2021 edition of the same competition and won again.

“It all started during lockdown last year when we had a lot of time on our hands. So we started to look for art competitions to participate in,” Kangathevi told theSun.

Theeran and Shaindavy, both pupils at SJK (Tamil) Rawang, Selangor, decided to enter the contest after looking for e-material about fish for their school’s Nilam reading programme.

For this year’s competition, Theeran, who competed in the aged 10 to 12 category, was required to write a one-page essay about the fish he was assigned to draw. Shaindavy, who was in the aged five to nine category, was exempted from the writing assignment.

They were to submit an original illustration of a fish chosen from the Official Fish List drawn up by the contest organiser.

Theeran chose to draw a
mahi-mahi, also known as the common dolphinfish, while Shaindavy opted for an Arctic char, a fish that is native to Arctic and
sub-Arctic waters.

Kangathevi said Theeran was doubtful that he would win again.

“I told him to keep trying. It turns out both of them won,” she said.

The Fish Art Contest was established in 1999 by Wildlife Forever to teach young people the marvels of fish, the joy of fishing, and the necessity of aquatic conservation.