Artists in solidarity with the earth

The first thing that draws your attention as you enter the exhibition hall is a small display which shows earth in the form of a bowl full of polythene bags, with a small bamboo plant growing amid stones and rocks and a few blocks of bricks. This mixed media display by artist Mohan Godwal titled Planet or Plastic jolts your senses. Is this what the earth is heading to?

Godwal is among the 70 artists whose works are on display at the Twin 1 Gallery, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), in accordance of the World Environment Week that began on June 4. The show, The Earth Is All We Have in Common, is a joint collaboration between IGNCA and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Smriti Sansthan, and ends on June 10. The paintings, installations, sculptures and photographs are by artists from across India, all focus on one theme – to showcase the harmful effects of human activities on the environment.  Such as saving water, increasing pollution, ever growing dumps of plastic waste and other issues as such. Many art works are made from waste material as well.

“The planning for the show began six months ago. This is our way of creating awareness about pressing environmental issues,” explains artist Abhishek Singh, curator of The Earth is All We Have.
This is the first art show by the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Smriti Sansthan that has been actively working towards saving the planet from the wrath of plastic waste pollution for over six years. “We have now ventured into art though we have been organising seminars, rallies, street plays etc., to educate the common man on the importance of maintaining ecological balance,” says Singh, who is associated with the Sansthan since its inception.

While few artists have highlighted the environmental situation through paintings and photographs, others have imagined situations where increasing pollution cause all life forms including humans to go extinct — lifeless cities full of concrete buildings and trees, birds and fish as mere symbols. The theme, however, is common – drawing attention to the destruction of environment and how humans cause ecological imbalances.

“Man is going ahead with the concrete development without understanding the harm that is being caused to eco-system and nature,” says a concerned Rashmi Malhotra, also a participating artist. She adds, “Humans have learnt what all they can do and are going full-steam with that. It is high time they learnt what they should not do.”  

“We must understand that natural resources like water cannot be created, they have to be conserved,” chimes in artist Anjali Sinha, whose works attempt to raise awareness about plantation and saving water. “My photographs are from the Thar Desert that I visited few years back. I was surprised to see how people there learnt to manage with so little natural resources, while we in cities are misusing the same,”
says Sinha, recalling her trip.

But she’s worried about the callous attitude exhibited by the public towards the environment. “Plants and water are two things we need for living, but we are not bothered about either. Perhaps, that’s why in my religion we consider plants as God. Our ancestors worshipped plants and water. It is time we go back to those practices,” she opines.