JOIN USStitching together narrative of extinct ponds of Kerala, understanding effects of migration on the social well-being of children in Sundarbans and highlighting implications of garbage being thrown into river Ganga every year is an upcoming exhibition ‘Panchtattvas: The Road Ahead’ which is part of Habitat Photosphere, a photography festival which will make its debut on December 1.
At a time when the debate around pollution and environmental degradation is at its peak, the exhibition aims to relook at the issue through the prism of photography. An initiative of India Habitat Centre, the month-long festival is curated and conceptualised by Alka Pande and seeks to bring into focus sustainable development and environmental awareness.
The exhibition features works created by the four awardees of the Photosphere grant — Harikrishna Katragadda, Monica Tiwari, Shraddha Borawake and K R Sunil, each having been mentored in this creative process by practicing photographers like Parthiv Shah, Bandeep Singh, Prabir Purkayastha and Aditya Arya respectively. The four mentors themselves will be showing their photographic work responding to that of their mentees. Some photographs by both the awardees and their mentors will also be shown at the Mandi House Metro station.
“Photosphere is a concept and an umbrella which is addressing the seminal concern of sustainable development in the world using the democratic and immediate medium of visual culture, namely photography. We are a festival with a green conscience evoking the bhaav of sustainable developments across all genres of photography,” says Pande, artistic director.
Apart from this, Pande will also be presenting a video work on River Ganga, artist Ashti Ghosh will have a light-based installation titled ‘Illume’ on view and Swiss artist Ursula Biemann will be showing a video work called ‘Deep Weather’. In addition, at the Jor Bagh Metro station, authors Kavita Singh Kale and Santosh Kale will be showing images from their graphic novel project called “17 Seen Unseen”.
Forty-year-old Sunil had observed that ponds in Kerala are on the verge of extinction and hence he decided to document its physical features, human-ecology, local history and myths and narratives revolving around each pond. “Every pond is a beehive of activities that comes alive from dawn to dusk every day. This project is an ethnographic documentation of each activity — how various sections of population engage with the local ponds from close quarters, both individually and collectively as a group. Another aspect involved documenting activities that vary from swimmers’ groups to resistance movements which stand for the conservation of the ecology of ponds,” he says.
Mumbai-based Katragadda, 46, in his project ‘You Can’t Step Into The Same River Twice’ has focused on the river Ganga. Apart from its deep religious, mythological and cultural significance, river Ganga also forms a lifeline for agriculture and industries. However, she receives 220 million gallons of raw untreated sewage every day, and effluents from 1,072 industries. The cities and villages along the Ganges dispose garbage into it, literally treat the holy river as a sewer.
The location of the first part of Katragadde’s project is Manikarnika Ghat in Benaras, one of the most important sites of cremation for Hindus. An estimated 30,000 bodies are burnt every year in Benaras, most of them at Manikarnika ghats. “As a part of last rites for the deceased, the bodies are wrapped in markin cloth and burnt with the fire which is believed to have been lit thousands of years ago according to mythologies. The charred remains of the body, along with the embers are then dumped into the Ganges.”
“Despite a functioning electric crematorium nearby, most people still prefer this way to cremate their relatives,” he adds, saying he has also used locations of Nagwa Nullah and Khidkiya Nullah in Benaras for his work. Apart from the photographic prints, he is doing a book shaped installation (in leather sourced from a Kanpur tannery) that will include more such cyanotype prints.
Delhi-based Monica Tiwari, 28, has trained her lens to document the lifestyle changes in children of migrant parents by understanding the effects on their education, health, and social well-being, in the context of global-warming led migration in the Sunderbans. Several families suffer severe estrangement, as they migrate away from their native villages — in search for work, away from the flooding and crop failures they increasingly face every year, owing to the global changes in environment. “My project aims to focus on this climate change led migration pattern in the Sunderbans, especially focusing on the children who are left behind in their native lands, growing up without the presence of their parents.”
Apart from the exhibition, there will also be a film festival on the subject of sustainability curated by Nitin Donde, treasure hunts, curated walks and show and tell sessions. Also scheduled to take place are a series of interactive and educative workshops being conducted by renowned photographers through the month of December.