G20 art project at Bihar Museum Biennale puts light on climate crisis

Artist Jayashree Chakravarty witnessed Kolkata’s salt lake growing into a concrete jungle in the 1960s and with it she saw a gradual decline in the number of trees, plants and birds in her surroundings.

An emphatic ache for nature remained with her and formed a large part of her oeuvre, as she painted climate-conscious themes of birds and trees over the last 20 years. One such creation, “Nature Whispers”, made it to the ‘Together We Art’ exhibition at the second Bihar Museum Biennale, which began on August 7 here.

“I am trying to give an idea of what I have experienced before. Also the trees and plants we are throwing away. I am bringing that into my work. I feel it should also come to mind that ultimately the living plants, birds and animals, the way we discourage them, at one point we will lose everything. And that won’t be very good for us,” Chakravarty told PTI.

Her painting, which is made using oil, acrylic, jute, leaf, cotton, and paper on canvas, is a composition of some extinct birds, depicting the artist’s longing for the once-thriving greenery of her surroundings.

The exhibition, which features artworks from the G20 countries and nine guest nations, is showcasing works depicting universal issues of climate change, gender inclusion and migrations.

A large section of the exhibition revolves around climate change concerns and the impact of human interference on nature.

While Chakravarty’s artwork focuses on the extinction of a number of bird species, Gurgaon-based PR Daroz has turned to coral reefs to show the impact of increasing pollution in the seas.

Daroz's artwork 'Sea-Bed' is a reminder of the Anthropocene, the current epoch in which human activity has significantly altered the Earth.

He invites the viewer to experience the beauty of these vulnerable landscapes and seascapes through their devastation and hopes that it inspires people to protect and preserve nature.

“It looks beautiful when you are in the boat, the entire landscape looks very beautiful from the surface. But slowly it is changing colour because of the heavy carbon dioxide in the sea. This is what is happening, maybe tomorrow we won’t be able to see life in the sea,” Daroz said.

International artists from Canada, Spain, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have also showcased works on the theme of climate change.

Canadian artist Jessica Houston’s “Letters to the Future” is a 1,000-year collaboration with ice and with people across disciplines, including post-humanist philosopher Rosi Braidotti, Inuk leader Okalik Eegeesiak, composer Arvo Pärt and physicist Carlo Rovelli.

As part of the project, Houston has carefully sealed handwritten letters addressed to the future within a time capsule that has been buried deep within the Queen Maud Land ice-sheet by scientist Alain Hubert.

With the passage of time, it is projected that the natural movement of ice will transport the time capsule to the sea where it is expected to resurface approximately 1,000 years from now as a testimony for future generations.

Houston’s work featured at Bihar Museum Biennale is a digital reproduction of the larger project.

Artist Misako Shine from Japan has taken Japanese Sumi-ink to produce on paper a depiction of four seasons in a single imaginary landscape to articulate the beauty and mystery of nature.

Talking about the inspiration behind her painting 'Season', Shine said that she wanted to send the message of preserving the earth for all living beings.

“There have been very terrible earthquakes in Japan, and tsunamis which caused huge damage. People were shocked, I was also shocked. We have to do something. But it is part of life. In my painting, I can tell people that we have to keep the earth because earth is not only human’s land, animals, insects, birds, everything and everybody lives here, we humans cannot spoil all the things,” Shine told PTI.

The message of the climate crisis is also evident in Spanish artist Beatriz Ruibal’s “Found Nowhere on the Map”, a video conjuring a “perfect storm” that portrays the inevitable disappearance of trees, including Rome’s iconic umbrella pines and ancient magnolia flowers.

While most depicted the impact of human interference and pollution on nature, Robert Zhao Renhui portrays an imaginary landscape of Singapore featuring flora and fauna, as well as futuristic buildings and architecture, suggesting that the city can be a shared habitat for both humans and non-human species, promoting the vision of coexistence.

While the Biennale will run till December 31, the G20 art project, ‘Together We Art’, will come to close on October 31.