By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Jan 2: Renowned artist and filmmaker Raphael Warjri has been conferred with the prestigious Pranab Baruah Artist Award 2025 in recognition of his lifelong achievements in the field of painting and fine arts in northeast India.
The award is presented annually on the occasion of Pranab Barua’s birthday (February 22), includes a citation with a memento and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
Born on March 14, 1961, in Shillong, Raphael Warjri has been involved in professional creativity for more than four decades.
He founded the Riti Academy of Visual Arts, an institute of fine arts, in 1991, and later added a gallery named MAD Gallery.
He has participated in art camps in Dhaka in 2005 and 2007 in collaboration with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and the Greater Sylhet Indigenous Peoples Forum. A lifetime member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and the Khasi Authors Society, Warjri is also a founding member of the North East Film and TV Producers and Directors Association and Meghalaya People Environmental Rights Forum.
Warjri is an active member of Meghalaya Adventure Association, Meghalaya Editors and Publishers Association, and Shillong Press Club.
He is involved in film and theater arts, and his works have been screened and performed at several film and theater festivals at national and international levels.
He has been awarded the ISB&M award of Kolkata, the Green Warrior Award, Rotary Club Shillong Excellence Award, and the State Tirot Singh Memorial Arts and Literature Award of the Government of Meghalaya.
He has written and published several valuable books in both the Khasi and English languages.
The award was introduced in 2002 and has already been awarded to Shobha Brahma, Benu Mishra, Nilpawan Barua, Adya Sharma, Biren Singh, Nani Barpujari, Pulak Gogoi, Jiten Hazarika, Janak Jhankar Narzary, Kushakanta Dev Goswami, Rabiram Brahma, Trailokya Dutta, Saleha Ahmed, Kandarpa Nath Sharma, Kiran Sankar, Champak Barbara, Dilip Tamuli, T. Tombi Singh (Manipur), Kulchandra M Khem (Manipur), Chinmoy Roy (Tripura), Tlang Raghuma (Mizoram), Takar Riba (Arunachal Pradesh) and Buddhi Thapa (Nagaland).
