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Priyanka’s first encounter with an insect suffering was when she found a wasp outside her hostel room at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, where she was enrolled at the Young India Fellowship in 2018. This was after a round of regular fumigation which was carried out at the university premises in the evening. Exposure to the poisonous smoke had the insect frothing at the mouth, helpless and unable to breathe. So, Priyanka took it to her room, laid it on a piece of paper and started studying it beneath the macro lens of her camera. Already poisoned by the fumigation, the insect died then and there. She was heartbroken.
It was then that she started documenting different species of insects at the university premises on her sketchbook, after which her art professor, Mr Anunaya Chaubey asked her to exhibit her work in the campus.
“We created an awareness exhibition to show people the diversity of insect within our 30-acre campus.”
This prompted the authorities to replace the poisonous fumigation smoke used to kill the insects with a milder and less harmful, lemongrass smoke, thereby ensuring a healthy environment both for the students, as well as the insects and the plants living in the campus.
One wouldn’t usually find such keen compassion for nature and its creatures among most people. But Priyanka’s interest in nature goes way back to her childhood, which was spent in Bangalore. She likes spending time in parks (filled with indigenous trees) in and around the city, and being amidst nature as often as she can. Other than that, her mother is an avid gardener and her father, a botanist, which inculcated in her a love for nature and wildlife right since childhood. Her home is covered with indigenous plants attracting creatures like insects and snakes. Hence, living with nature and its creatures is something she is comfortable with.
“I feel closer to plants and insects more than people”, laughs Priyanka.
“When I was younger, my Dad used to send me to these camps to Chikmagalur and other forests in South India.”
Growing up in a city like Bangalore with its lush green parks and areas like Kodaikanal, Nandi Hills, and Turahalli forests at an hour’s distance made her fall in love with nature all the more. Hiking along the hills of the Western Ghats and shooting insects has always been her favourite pastime.
Her stint at Ashoka University was just another feather in her cap, and not an isolated or sudden effort on her part to contribute something to the welfare of nature. It was something she had been involved in for as long as she could remember.
“A small act that started in my notebook changed something in the way insects were viewed from then on in the campus. Right now, the Ashoka campus is actively trying to work towards making its premises greener for both the students and nature.”, says Priyanka.
Following her graduation, Priyanka made her way to Kalga village in Himachal Pradesh during the months of June-September, which is the mating season for insects. There, she spent most of her days navigating the village, searching for insects.
“The variety and species I came across blew my mind.”
During the day, she discovered camouflaged insects like beetles, katydids, stick insects, weevils, flower beetles, stink bugs, shield bugs, grasshoppers, cicadas, tortoise bugs, dragonflies, damselflies, crickets, and butterflies. It was during this time that she understood that plants and insects have a deep relationship with one another, wherein the plant provides the insect with the necessary food, and space to moult and mate.
While shooting the insects, she also realised that approaching them directly might frighten them and they might just fly away. In order to shoot them without frightening them, she needed to tread carefully and approach them slowly. It was almost a meditative involvement, where she had to consciously forge a friendly relation with the insects by slowing down her breath, and aligning herself with the mood of the insect.
“I began to understand the emotional state of the insect, what mood it was in, was it hunting or resting, during that time of interaction I needed to forget my own ego and self in order to not alarm the insect.”
“Something in me changed after that trip, I was able to understand them deeper and they didn’t feel threatened around my presence but rather comfortably stayed around me while I shot them sometimes even for an hour.”
Both the days and nights spent in Kalga were equally interesting for her. While the days brought out the camouflaged insects, the nights brought out all the colourful insects like the giant moths, moths, beetles, and some species of spiders.
Following this trip, she made her way towards South of India and visited Coorg, Kannur, Vagamon, Alleppy, Kodaikanal, Goa and started documenting the species there. She found incredible species of mantis, moths, caterpillars, wasps, bees, dragonflies, leafhoppers, planthoppers, grasshoppers, katydids, beetles and butterflies in all those places that she visited.
Over the course of three years, she has documented more than 30,000 photographs of flora and fauna around India, using her iPhone6 with the help of clip-on lenses to document the same.
In the next few years, she wishes to travel to other parts of India and create a detailed insect map of the country.
With the growing population in India, areas previously overspread with indigenous plants are getting destroyed by urban development, due to which the insect population has gone down. With no suitable ecosystem to sustain them, these little insects are left with nowhere to breed and grow.
“Now more than ever, we need to research on the native species of plants in India and need to work towards bringing a balance back in the natural system. The plant and insect relationship is of utmost importance for the natural balance of the world. If these little ones disappear we will be left with no food to feed our growing population. Conservation of all kinds of life matters now more than ever.”, says Priyanka.
Currently, she is taking up projects with resorts and estates, that have invited her to document their insect species and create a guide for insect spotting that their guests can take up as an activity.
She also preserves dead insects that she finds in resin and makes jewellery out of them.
Studying insects through making art merging people and nature is one of the ways in which she wants to bring awareness to nature and wildlife.
“Insects have only led me back to myself every time I’ve interacted with them, helping me inculcate patience, respect, and softness in my heart for all creatures big or small.”
She has grown a sense of inclusivity within herself and doesn’t see herself as separate from any living organism. Above all, she realises the importance of living in harmony with nature in general.
“If we leave our ego at home and venture into nature as a part of it, we will see that it has a lot to teach us,” muses Priyanka. In doing so, she believes that a sense of peace and self-fulfilment will surely follow.
You can check out her insect documentation here.
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